Peru Lifts Some Machu Picchu Claims Against Yale University

NEW HAVEN, CT.- Peru has voluntarily agreed to withdraw fraud and conspiracy allegations it made against Yale University in a lawsuit seeking the return of Inca artifacts removed from Machu Picchu nearly a century ago.
The South American nation recently filed papers in federal court dismissing six of 17 counts from its lawsuit. Peru sued in 2008, demanding Yale return artifacts taken by scholar Hiram Bingham III between 1911 and 1915.
The Machu Picchu ruins, perched in the clouds at 8,000 feet [...]

United States Gives Russia Back Czar’s Stolen Medallion

MOSCOW.- The U.S. Ambassador to Russia returned a stolen silver medallion that belonged to the last Russian czar to Moscow Thursday after it was recovered from an online auction by U.S. investigators.
Ambassador John Beyrle said that the recovery of the rare artifact signaled increasing trust between Moscow and Washington.
“This detective story is a wonderful example of successful cooperation, which allows us to improve relations between Russia and the United States,” Beyrle said during a ceremony at his official residence.
The medallion, [...]

Italian Judge Wants Ancient Statue Seized from Getty Museum

ROME.- An Italian judge ordered the seizure of an ancient Greek statue from the J. Paul Getty Museum on Thursday, the latest round in a lengthy legal dispute over artworks Italy says were looted from its territory.
The Los Angeles-based museum, which bought the bronze statue for $3.9 million in 1977, said it would appeal to Italy’s top court against the ruling.
Prosecutors in the Italian city of Pesaro argued that the highly prized sculpture — which depicts an athlete crowned with [...]

Restitution case targets Thyssen museum

BOSTON. A US federal appeals court in California is rethinking its decision to allow Spain to be sued in the US by an American citizen in a Nazi loot claim. Elderly San Diego resident Claude Cassirer wants to recover an 1897 Pissarro painting, Rue Saint Honoré—Afternoon, Rain Effect, which he says his grandmother lost to a Nazi art dealer as she fled Germany in 1939. The Spanish government bought the painting as part of its purchase of the Baron Hans-Heinrich [...]

Iran to Cut Ties with British Museum over Cyrus Cylinder Loan

DUBAI.- Iran said it will cut ties with the British Museum on Monday because of the museum’s failure to lend Tehran an ancient Babylonian artifact described as the world’s earliest bill of rights.
The spat over the loan has long festered between London and Tehran, and comes against the backdrop of increasingly tense Iranian-British relations.
Tehran is under heavy pressure from the West over its nuclear program, and has accused Britain and other foreign governments of interference in domestic policies and of [...]

Smithsonian Fiscal Year 2011 Federal Budget Request Totals $797.6 Million

WASHINGTON, DC.- The President’s fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress for the Smithsonian is $797.6 million, an increase from the $761.4 million appropriated to the Institution in FY 2010. The Salaries and Expenses budget request for FY 2011 is $660.8 million and the Facilities Capital budget is $136.8 million.

Thomas Jefferson’s lap desk. In 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence on this portable lap desk of his own design. Featuring a hinged writing board and a locking drawer [...]

UNESCO’s Irina Bokova Calls for Ban in Trade in Haitian Artifacts

DAVOS.- The United Nations’ culture and education agency called Friday for a ban in the trade of Haitian artifacts to prevent the pillaging of cultural treasures in the aftermath of its devastating earthquake.
The director-general of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the agency is launching a campaign to protect art collections in the Caribbean country’s damaged museums and historical sites “so that we don’t find these objects in Christie’s tomorrow.”
The U.N. Education, Scientific and [...]

Party Leaders Back Staffordshire Hoard Campaign

LONDON.- The Art Fund announced that the three major UK political party leaders are backing the Staffordshire Hoard campaign.
The Art Fund today announces that the three major UK political party leaders are backing the Staffordshire Hoard campaign.
Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have all pledged support for The Art Fund’s campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard for the West Midlands.
The Prime Minister, Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP said: “The Staffordshire Hoard is a wonderful example of our ‘hidden heritage’. [...]

Iran May Cut British Museum Ties in Row Over Ancient Persian Treasure

TEHRAN.- Iran will cut its links with the British Museum and ask bodies such as UNESCO to reconsider their own ties if the museum does not keep a promise to lend Iran an ancient Persian treasure, Iranian media reported on Sunday.
Iran’s Cultural Heritage Organization said in October it had set a two-month deadline for the British Museum to allow the public display in Iran of the so-called Cyrus Cylinder, linked to the Persian ruler’s 6th century BC conquest of Babylon.
The [...]

Getty Adviser, Bernard Ashmole, Concerned Statue was Looted

LOS ANGELES, CA.- An adviser to billionaire J. Paul Getty had concerns about whether an ancient bronze statue destined for Getty’s world-famous museum had been properly removed from Italy, it was reported Thursday.
A 1976 letter from now-deceased Getty adviser Bernard Ashmole, an Oxford archaeologist, said museum “exploits” to obtain the ancient Greek work “Victorious Youth” were a “crime.” However, the letter cited by the Los Angeles Times makes no specific accusations.

Unknown and Unknown maker, perhaps by a pupil of Lysippos, [...]

Yale University Says Lawsuit by Peru Should be Dismissed

NEW HAVEN, CT.- Yale University says a lawsuit by Peru seeking the return of thousands of Inca artifacts removed from the famed Machu Picchu citadel nearly a century ago should be dismissed because a statue of limitations expired.
Peru rejects the argument, saying Yale never owned the artifacts and that its claim is not subject to a statute of limitations under Peruvian law. Peru also says Yale did not assert ownership of the artifacts until late 2008.
“The artifacts are of immense [...]

Heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Reach Settlement Agreement

WASHINGTON, DC.- The heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy are pleased to announce that they have reached a Settlement Agreement with the Trustees of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation resolving their ownership claim to the painting The Absinthe Drinker (Angel Fernandez de Soto) (1903) by Pablo Picasso. The terms of the Settlement Agreement are confidential in their entirety. The heirs now relinquish any and all claims of title to this painting.
The Mendelssohn heirs settled other matters in 2009 with the [...]

Dutch Secret Service Take Custody of Jill Magid’s Art

LONDON.- It’s not often that the end of an exhibition at Tate Modern ends with a dramatic twist but that’s exactly what happened today, Monday Jan 4 2010, when two representatives from the Dutch Ministry of Interior took permanent custody of the exhibits on behalf of the Dutch Secret Service who had originally commissioned the artworks.
The show entitled ‘Authority To Remove’ became a showdown between the artist Jill Magid and her commissioners, the AIVD (Dutch Secret Service), who didn’t like [...]

Yale University Says Suit Over Vincent Van Gogh’s Work Imperils Other Art

NEW HAVEN, CT.- The ownership of tens of billions of dollars of art and other goods could be thrown into doubt if a lawsuit seeking the return of a famous Vincent Van Gogh painting is successful, according to a court filing by Yale University.
The Ivy League university sued in federal court in March to assert its ownership rights over “The Night Cafe” and to block a descendant of the original owner from claiming it. Pierre Konowaloff is the purported great-grandson [...]

Egypt Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawass to Demand Nefertiti Bust

CAIRO.- Egypt’s antiquities chief said Sunday he will formally demand the return of the 3,300-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti from a Berlin museum after confirming it was sneaked out of Cairo through fraudulent documents.
Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has been aggressively campaigning to reclaim treasures that he says were stolen from Egypt and purchased by some of the world’s leading museums.
Hawass’ campaign yielded a huge success this week with the return of painted wall fragments [...]