Our founder, Leila Amineddoleh, was invited to write an article in US News & World Report about the effects of technology on the trade of looted antiquities. Ever steady advances in technology have unfortunately led to a wider market for illicit goods. However, this technology can be harnessed to save these cultural treasures. To read more about these issues, please find Leila’s article at https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-05-27/how-technology-is-tracking-stolen-artifacts
Karen Zraick at the NY Times reported on looted antiquities that are being sold on Facebook. The problem is broader than just Facebook because looting networks sell their illicit wares through many online outlets. The internet is an appealing place for these illegal sales because buyers and sellers may easily remain anonymous. The sales also aren’t as widely publicized as in other marketplaces. And making it even more challenging is that communications move from these online marketplaces to encrypted channels like Whatsapp. Zraick references the important research and publications of Dr. Amr Al-Azm and Katie Paul. The two colleagues have called upon Facebook and other social media sites to handle looted goods more responsibly.
The discussions concerning illegal sales on social media sites illustrate the much larger issue of shutting down the looted antiquities market. Items illicitly removed from the ground are often difficult to trace. Unlike fine art, newly discovered antiquities have not seen the light of day for centuries. Fine art objects can often be traced back to their creator through examining prior sales and transactions. It is not the same with looted antiquities. Without a clear record of their discovery and removal, it may be difficult to determine from where these stolen objects were found. This problem is compounded by the fact that looters and their networks intentionally conceal this information to avoid penalties from law enforcement agencies.
It is necessary for online providers to ensure that they are not providing the black market with an unregulated marketplace in which to sell stolen cultural heritage.
Our founder, Leila Amineddoleh, had the pleasure of speaking at the Victoria & Albert Museum last month in London. Leila presented a brief history of looting, followed by a timeline of important art repatriation cases. Next came advice about due diligence for collectors, and then Leila addressed ethical concerns related to museums and collectors. Following her talk was a lively question and answer period. The Institute of Art & Law graciously reviewed the sold-out event and provided a helpful synopsis of the lecture.
Our founder, Leila A. Amineddoleh, is honored to be speaking at the Victoria & Albert Museum later this month. As part of the Culture in Crisis series, Leila’s lecture, Protecting Cultural Heritage: Theft, Looting and the Law, will examine the history of antiquities looting, repatriation cases, and due diligence for art acquisitions. Tickets to the public are free, and are available on the museum’s website.
The V&A is a unique cultural institution. It traces its roots to the Museum of Manufactures in 1852, and the current building had its foundation stone laid by Queen Victoria in 1899. With a collection spanning 5,000 years of art, it is the world’s largest museum of applied and decorative arts and design, as well as sculpture, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects.
Our founder, Leila Amineddoleh, worked as a cultural heritage law expert with the Manhattan DA’s Office in furtherance of the repatriation of a looted coffin from Egypt. Yesterday it was announced that the Metropolitan Museum of Art would return the exquisite coffin to Egypt. The prized golden-sheathed artifact was featured in an exhibition, “Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin,” that opened last year. The 1st BC century coffin was inscribed for Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis. The museum featured the coffin as the highlight of an exhibition, set to close on April 21. However, it was closed earlier this week after the museum agreed to repatriate the object after learning that it was looted from Egypt in 2011.
The museum purchased the item for $3.95 million from Parisian art dealer Christophe Kunicki in 2017. The coffin was accompanied by false provenance information suggesting that the item was legally exported. But in reality, the work was recently looted and smuggled out of the Middle Eastern country in contravention of its cultural heritage laws.
The museum publicly announced the high-profile repatriation and stated that it will review its acquisition program to prevent such occurrences in the future. In 2017, the Manhattan DA’s Office formed the nation’s first antiquities trafficking unit. Ms. Amineddoleh is proud to consult with the trafficking unit as a cultural heritage law expert. Led by Matthew Bogdanos, the unit has facilitated a number of repatriations from the Metropolitan Museum of Art within the past few years, including the return of an Etruscan vessel and a marble bull’s head from Lebanon.
