[CPProt.net] Italy says New York Met may return disputed art

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Italy says New York Met may return disputed art
Fri Dec 2, 2005 1:40 PM GMT

By Silvia Aloisi

ROME (Reuters) - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art may return disputed
antiquities to Italy by early 2007 under a deal meant to resolve Italy's
claims to some of the Met's most prized artefacts, an Italian official said
on Friday.

The culture ministry official said that as part of the possible agreement,
which is still being worked out and requires approval by the Met's board,
Italy would in exchange lend objects of equal value to the museum on a
rotating basis.

The compromise was discussed at a meeting between Italian officials and the
Met's director, Philippe de Montebello, in Rome last week.

"I think we can reach an accord fairly rapidly," said Giuseppe Proietti,
head of the research and innovation department at Italy's culture ministry.

The dispute with the Met involves more than 20 objects which Italy says were
stolen or illegally excavated within its borders.

Rome is particularly keen to recover the Euphronios krater, a 2,500-year-old
Greek vase regarded as one of the most prized treasures in the Met's
collection, and a set of 15 silver pieces from the third century B.C.

Asked when the disputed antiquities might return to Italy, Proietti said:
"We talked about late 2006 or early 2007."

Proietti said the Metropolitan wanted to see the evidence supporting Italy's
claims, but that did not mean that it disputed them. He described the Rome
meeting as cordial.

Last month the former curator of another respected U.S. art institution, the
J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, appeared before a Rome court to face
charges of knowingly acquiring stolen artefacts.

A few days earlier, the Getty had returned three disputed art works to
Italy.

The trial has put the spotlight on the shady side of the global art
business.

Experts say international trade in stolen antiquities is worth billions of
dollars every year and that the buying practices of many museums,
particularly in the United States, are questionable.

Both the Euphronios krater and the silver pieces were sold to the Met by
Paris-based art dealer Emanuel Robert Hecht, the co-defendant in the trial
of former Getty curator Marion True.

Proietti said that the evidence in the hands of Italian investigators
suggested that the Met had "acted in good faith".

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