The Medici Conspiracy (74 page)

1
These objects are important enough to feature in Mario Cristofani's book
Etruria e Lazio arcaico, Atti dell'incontro di studio
(
Archaic Etruria and Lazio: Documents of the Study Meeting
), published in 1986 (p. 155 ff.). Mario Cristofani was a distinguished Etruscologist. In fact, it was Cristofani who excavated the temple dedicated to Hercules at Cerveteri in the early 1990s (see p. 202 and 384).

2
The first was a skyphos by the Trittolemos Painter, showing Menelaus and Helen at the conquest of Troy, which was sold to the museum in 1970 by Nikolas Koutoulakis. The second was an Attic kylix, showing a blacksmith sitting at the anvil, acquired from Robin Symes in 1980. The third acquisition was the most important and took place in 1983. This involved a group of twenty-one Apulian vases all coming from the same tomb. The photographs in Medici's warehouse didn't show all the vases, however, but just four of them in fragments, lying on the floor. In this case there were three series of Polaroids—one of fifteen photographs, another of six, and a third of two—that show the vases in various stages of restoration, the most important of which was a krater by the Darius Painter. Later investigation by Ferri and Pellegrini unveiled the manner in which the Berlin museum had been “tricked” into buying these objects. These maneuvers are described in Chap. 12.

1
There is further exploration in Chap. 12 of the cumbersome nature of international letters rogatory. This is the mechanism whereby law enforcement authorities in one country can officially pursue investigations in another. At the best of times, they are crude, ponderous instruments. On top of that, however, clever lawyers exploit the sheer slowness of the procedure. Knowing that a rogatory is in the works but may take months to worm its way through the system, the prudent lawyer
volunteers
to give information. This may seem surprising, but it has one crucial advantage. If a party—such as Sotheby's or the Getty, say—volunteers information, the other side is likely to accept. An investigating prosecutor, such as Dr. Ferri, will agree because it speeds up the procedure and prevents the investigation from running out of time, going beyond any statutes of limitation that may be looming. The advantage for parties being investigated is that by volunteering information,
they do not have to provide all relevant details, nor do they subject themselves to the pre-trial process of “discovery,” under which they can be subpoenaed, compelled to produce all relevant documentation.
In other words, by submitting documentation voluntarily, a party can appear to be cooperating willingly with an investigation, while at the same time legally holding back certain sensitive material. This is always difficult to prove, of course, but readers may judge for themselves.

1
That Hecht supplied other important museums with illicit material is also indicated: “My friends were loyal during this period and brought me such fine objects as the Attic r/f kylix [now in Munich] by the Elpinidos Painter with Theseus binding the rascal Sinis to a tree.”

2
In a magazine article published in July 2001, Hoving added that he had bumped into Hecht the previous December, at the opening of the Hermitage Rooms in London's Somerset House, when he asked him “directly” if he had switched Sarrafian's documents on to the Met's vase. “He turned his face to the side after looking at me intently and said, ‘Of course.'”

3
Perhaps the most interesting client of Summa and NFA was Gordon McLeudon of Dallas, Texas, whose father was the owner of some newspapers and a television station. “Gordon purchased fragments of Greek vases, Greek amber figurines and beads, Roman marble portraits and donated them to the Getty Museum with the connivance of Jiri Frel for an exaggerated appraisal for a tax write off. Some of the amber beads worth $5 to $25 were appraised $150 etc. It is no surprise that the IRA [Internal Revenue Administration] ordered a re-appraisal of Gordon McLeudon's gifts. Apparently Frel made the appraisal on the stationery of Royal Athena Gallery and forged the signature of J. E. [Jerome Eisenberg], the owner.”

1
The Morgantina Venus is considered to be one of the most important objects in the Getty, and Italy has been trying to get it back for years. It is a life-size statue of Venus/Aphrodite, circa 420 BC, dressed in clinging drapery that both conceals and reveals the form of the body underneath. Opinion on the piece has ranged at various times from characterizing it as very beautiful to “scandalous.” There is also a dispute as to whether the head belongs with the rest of the body. Three heads are known to have been excavated by a tombarolo at Aidone, part of Morgantina. Two of them reached the Getty via the Tempelsman Collection, but the third is missing—unless it is the one atop the body of the Morgantina Venus.

2
Symes admitted he had seen the Pompeian frescoes seized from Medici. In his opinion they could not be sold. He himself had sold the Griffins, the Tyche, and the Kore acquired from Koutoulakis. These objects went
to Koutoulakis, he said, because it was more plausible for Greek objects, originating in Macedonia, to come from a Greek dealer—in other words, the arrangement distanced them from Italy. He said he did not know they came from Medici (as the Polaroid photo of the Griffins proves). He had then sold the Kore to the Getty, the Griffins to Tempelsman, and the Tyche to Fleischman, who then sold them to the Getty (see p. 198).

1
This access was limited but unique.

2
Other details from the inventory: On December 19, 1998, Symes sold Leon Levy three objects: a Roman marble bust, third century AD, for $230,000; a Hellenistic over-life-size marble head of a woman, third century BC, for $500,000; and three gold vessels, north European, thirteenth century BC, for $750,000, making that day's takings $1,480,000. There was also mention in the files at that point of a fresco sold to Levy, valued at $1.6 million, which turned out to be fake.

1
This interview took place on July 5, 2003, aboard Mr. Papadimitriou's boat,
Astrape
: Mr. Papadimitriou repeated the allegations the following day.

2
Interview, London, February 6, 2006.

3
Gill, D. W. J. and C. Chippindale, “From Boston to Rome: reflections on returning antiquities,”
International Journal of Cultural Property
, Vol. 13, 2006, pp. 311–331.

Aboutaam, Ali

Aboutaam, Hischam, Aboutaam, Hischam

Aboutaam, Noura

Aboutaam, Sleiman

Afghanistan

Africa

Aitken, Brian

Albert, Jacques

Alsdorf, Marilyn

Alsdorf Collection

Al-Thani, Sheikh Saoud

Altman, Benjamin

Amasis

Amasis Painter

American Institute of Archaeology

Amorelli Falconi, Teresa

Ancient India and Iran Trust

Anedda, Alessandro

Angeli-Cottier, Fiorella

Antike Kunst Palladion

Antiquities

average price at auction of

changing attitudes regarding the dealing of unprovenanced

Chippindale's law regarding illicit activities (
see
Chippindale's law)

clandestine network supplying and dealing unprovenanced (
see
Network of trade in unprovenanced antiquities)

conclusions regarding

destruction of

fakes, scholarly problems posed by

Greek (
see
Operation Eclipse and subsequent Greek investigations)

impact (archaeological and cultural) of the trade in unprovenanced

impact of the investigations and prosecutions on the world of

recent cases of illicit activities

return of

worldwide nature of the problem

Apostolides, Andreas

Archaeological Institute of America

Archaeological Museum (Munich)

Archaeological Superintendency for Enna

Archaeological Superintendency for Southern Etruria

Architecture, consequences of the invention of concrete for

Arcuri, Vincenzo

Ariss Ancient Art

Art and Culture of the Cyclades exhibition (Karlsruhe)

Artemis, statue of

Artemis Fujita

Artemis (the goddess)

Arts Franc

Asfar, Nabil el

Asian antiquities

Asia Society (New York)

Association for Field Archaeology

Asteas

Atlantis Antiquities (New York)

Auction houses
. See also
Bonham's; Christie's; Sotheby's

Bacon, Francis

Bartoloni, Gilda

Baviera, Filippo

Bearded Sphinx Painter

Beazley, J. D.

Becchina, Gianfranco

Frel and

future of

the Getty kouros

golden wreath photos in the archive of

investigation of

Japan, dealings in

judge's comments regarding in Medici trial

Medici, comparison to

Medici, rivalry with

Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, involvement in sale of objects to

name of in the organigram

Ortiz, sale of objects to

proceedings initiated against

prosecutorial interrogations of others, mentioned in

Becchina, Ursula “Rosie,”

Belize

Bell, Malcolm

Bellezza, Aldo

Bellini, Giovanni

Berenson, Bernard

Bergman, Robert P.

Berlin Painter

Bernheimer, Max

Bible Lands Museum (Jerusalem)

Bloomfield Collection

Boardman, Sir John

Bonaparte, Lucien

Bonham's
. See also
Auction houses

Borowsky, Eli/Elia

Bortolot Daybreak Corporation

Boston Museum of Fine Arts
. See
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)

Boursaud, Christian

fragments of the Euphronios-Onesimos kylix, origination of

as “front” for Medici

Hydra Gallery ownership, dispute over

information on provided by Hodges

interview of Tchacos, discussed in

laundering activities, participation in

Medici's trial, discussed in

Bowles, Colin

Bozzi, Vincenzo

Brand, Michael

British Museum

Brodie, Neil

Brundage, Avery

Brunetti, Dino

Bruno, Mario

Brygos Painter

Bryn Mawr Painter

Bucchero ceramics

Bucci Painter