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Dieric Bouts shop to Poland. The paint- Statue of a 23, 2022, that “there was an inherent risk in
ings were looted by the Nazis from a Polish Victorious Youth buying religious artifacts, which are almost
noble family during World War II, ca. 300-100 B.C. always intended to remain for use within the
and found in a museum in western Spain religious community. … There are surprisingly
in 2019. few legal sources of sacred art on the market. It
The list continues through the first few serves as yet another warning of the risk of
months of 2023 with a healthy number of buying ancient art and artifacts.” Davis also
items being returned to their place of ori- stated that most religious antiquities arrived in
gin. Without the network of Government their current locations as a result of looting
specialists working together with academia archaeological sites or graves, or out-and-out
and museums in the U.S. and around the A naked youth stands stolen from religious institutions.
world, the verification of an object’s prove- with his weight on
nance would remain a mystery. To many, his right leg, Will the Rosetta Stone be
the repatriation of objects would (and may crowning himself Repatriated?
still) be done at the discretion of the with an olive wreath The Rosetta Stone (title image) is a gran-
Museum or other institutions housing them, – the prize for a odiorite stele inscribed with the same decree in
but efforts regarding provenance and pur- victor in the Olympic three separate writing languages – Egyptian
pose can be persuasive to the many that may Games and identifies hieroglyph, Demotic Egyptian, and Greek,
have to consider the repatriation option. this youth as a created in 196 B.C. This can be used to
victorious athlete.
The eyes of the figure translate the heiroglyphics to two other known
Celebrating the Returns were originally inlaid languages. Napoleon claimed it for himself in
The February article also mentions with colored stone or 1799 when he and his troops occupied Egypt.
Rome’s new Museum of Saved Art. When glass paste, and the To see it today, travel to the British Museum
the Museum opened in June 2022, it had nipples were inlaid in London where it has resided for 220 years.
100 Etruscan, Greek, and Roman artifacts with copper, creating There, it has been meticulously cared for and
on display. The Museum switches out naturalistic color deciphered. Back in Egypt, however, the
objects every few months and returns items contrasts. The origin public is raising its voice to have the Stone
of the statue is
from the previous exhibit to the rightful unknown, but either returned with more than 100,000 Egyptians
owners, allowing Italy to showcase the suc- Olympia or the signing a petition demanding its return.
cessful recovery of lost and stolen artifacts. youth's hometown. In 2003, The Supreme Council of
There are other museums of this type Antiquities in Cairo began a campaign for the
being developed in other countries. return of the Rosetta Stone to Egypt. They
There is another option for repatriation that may help to serve both assert that the French acquired the stone in an act of war and therefore
the museum that had housed an item since its arrival in a country and it was not their property. In 2008, a British Official responded in par-
the country of origin by handing over a “digital repatriation.” In liament that the stone would not be returned. The Brits maintain that
essence, this would allow the museums that have the item to continue it was legitimately obtained from the French with their agreement in
to care for/ display/conserve the item and give digital or physical copies 1801. In the meantime, The British Museum has sent Egypt a life-sized
to the cultures of origin, or the other way around. replica of the stone.
According to Aljazeera News in November 2022, the British
Spreading the Mission Museum has acknowledged that several
Thanks to the efforts of people and repatriation requests have been made to it
professionals worldwide, finds that are from various countries for artifacts, but it
returned to their original owners have did not provide The Associated Press with
inspired others with the hope of retrieving any details on their status or number. It also
their stolen goods. One example is the did not confirm whether it has ever repatri-
Statue of a Victorious Youth which was creat- ated an artifact from its collection.
ed around 300 to 100 BCE. Ted Luzi, the
Carabinieri Commanding General who So, Who Owns What?
oversees the Carabinieri Unit for the There are any number of academic
Protection of Cultural Heritage, stays hope- papers, news reports, first-hand witness
ful. According to the June 21, 2022 issue of accounts, and other evidence of provenance
Smithsonian Magazine, “The statue was that comes with each piece of history. At
found by an Italian fishing boat in the one time, museum curators would appear to
1960s and purchased by the J. Paul Getty have a “no-holds-barred” approach to snap-
Museum in 1977. (Despite a 2018 court ping up whatever was within reach, deemed
ruling that the Getty must return the statue, Repatriated items on display at Italy’s new museum as “rescuing” an item from endangerment.
the museum still holds it in its collection.)” for returned items called the Museo dell’Arte Salvata, According to The New York Times,
In August of 2022, The New York Times or the Museum of Saved Art. “Thomas Hoving, a Metropolitan Museum
reported that “A beautifully preserved of Art curator who later became its director,
grouping of three life-size terra-cotta figures dating to 300 B.C. that took particular pride in his ability to outsmart rivals in the global
was seized from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles by the pursuit of masterpieces. In one instance he recalled spiriting a
Manhattan district attorney’s office will be sent back to Italy after the Romanesque relief from a Florentine church out of Italy with the help
museum agreed that it had been illegally excavated, museum and law of a dealer who, Hoving said, often stashed objects under a mattress in
enforcement officials said.” his station wagon. ‘My collecting style was pure piracy,’ Hoving boasted,
‘and I got a reputation as a shark.’”
The Religion Factor To think that major museum collections are being scrutinized for
Tess Davis is the executive director of the Antiquities Coalition, their legitimacy and could be at risk of repatriation into what may or
which aims to combat the illicit trade in antiquities, has been a legal may not be the hands of the rightful owner was once something that
consultant for the Cambodian and U.S. governments and works with was considered unthinkable. Thanks to conversations now being had
both the art world and law enforcement to keep looted antiquities off around the world, it is hopeful that antiquities will find their way into
the market. She notes in an article from The New York Times on August the right hands and still available to be admired and explored.

28 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles