Call for ‘looted’ Roman antiquities to be pulled from auction
A leading archaeologist is calling for Bonhams to withdraw two Roman antiquities from a forthcoming London auction, claiming that evidence suggests they were looted.
Dr Christos Tsirogiannis told The Telegraph the two items feature in photographs seized in police raids from two traffickers in stolen artefacts.
One is a Roman portrait head, probably the Emperor Titus, which is estimated to fetch between £50,000 and £70,000. Dating from circa 70-100 AD, and 27cm high, it is lot 171 in an auction scheduled for July 4.
Dr Tsirogiannis, who is an affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge, said that a polaroid image of the same head, apparently on a white towel, was among items seized by police from Giacomo Medici, who was convicted in Italy in 2004 of dealing in stolen artefacts.
The auctioneer gives the object’s provenance as “private collection, France” as well as the Royal-Athena Galleries, New York and “private collection, USA, acquired from the above in 2002”. Since 2017, The Manhattan District Attorney has recovered – also with the help of Dr Tsirogiannis – many looted items from Royal-Athena, which no longer exists.
Dr Tsirogiannis said: “So basically no verified provenance – and of course, Medici is not mentioned.”
He also pointed to Lot 57 , a “beautiful” Roman silver plate decorated with a reclining river god, dating from circa 3rd Century AD. Measuring 31.5cm in diameter, it is estimated to sell for between £20,000 and £30,000.
Dr Tsirogiannis said that a poster featuring that plate was among material seized from Gianfranco Becchina, who was convicted in Italy in 2011 of dealing illegally in antiquities and twice in Greece in recent years.
The auctioneer’s provenance states that it is “property from a Princely Collection, acquired at Cultura [international art fair] in Basel in October 2002,” adding that it was loaned to the Antikenmuseum Basel from 2002 to 2018.
Dr Tsirogiannis heads illicit antiquities trafficking research for the Unesco chair on threats to cultural heritage at the Ionian University in Corfu, Greece.
The late Paolo Giorgio Ferri, the Italian public prosecutor who prosecuted traffickers in looted antiquities, gave Dr Tsirogiannis access to tens of thousands of images and other archival material seized in police raids from Medici, Becchina and dozens of traffickers.
Over the past 18 years, Dr Tsirogiannis has identified more than 1,700 looted antiquities within auction houses, galleries, museums and private collections, alerting Interpol and other police forces and playing a significant role in repatriating antiquities.
They include an ancient Greek bronze horse, which Sotheby’s in New York planned to sell in 2018 until he notified the authorities of its links to a disgraced British antiquities dealer. In 2020, Sotheby’s lost its legal challenge and Greece’s culture minister described the court’s ruling as a significant victory for countries fighting to reclaim antiquities.
In 2019, Bonhams cancelled the sale of an ancient Greek drinking vessel after Dr Tsirogiannis alerted police authorities with photographic evidence linking it to Becchina. It was repatriated a few months later to Italy.
Dr Tsirogiannis is outraged that auction houses are repeatedly selling antiquities with vague provenances.
He is unconvinced by their claims that they make extensive checks with all relevant authorities: “If they did, it would be to their benefit to advertise it in the provenance of every piece, saying that ‘we have checked it with the Italian or other authorities’. Instead, they are continually found with antiquities linked to convicted and notorious traffickers.”
Francesca Hickin, director of the Bonhams antiquities department, said: “It would be in our shared interest for the contents of the archive to be made accessible to auction houses. Bonhams has verified the provenance for these items which is in its cataloguing and in the public domain. The Roman silver plate is from a well-known princely collection.
“The portrait head is a piece that was published by reputable expert Jerry Eisenberg in 1997. We have strict procedures in place to help us ensure that we offer for sale objects that we are legally able to sell. We have had no communication from… any law enforcement agency regarding these items.”
The Basel museum declined to comment.