Image: JUSTIN LANE (EPO)
For this purpose, the Met will hire additional provenance researchers, said director Max Hollein on the website of the renowned museum on Wednesday. Only on Tuesday did the New York prosecutor’s office return two antique stone sculptures from the Met’s collection to China.
In particular, Hollein explained that his museum will examine those parts of the collection, which totals 1.5 million objects, that came from art dealers that are now controversial. The museum acquired most of the suspect works between 1970 and 1990, “when less information was available and the provenance of many of these works was less closely examined.”
Since 2020, Manhattan’s prosecutors have been conducting a large-scale campaign to return antique objects that have been looted in around 20 countries and ended up in New York museums and galleries. She also has her sights set on the Metropolitan Museum, its wealthy collectors and donors. Since January 2022, she has returned more than 950 items worth over $165 million to 19 countries.
Only on Tuesday did prosecutors in China return two 7th-century tomb sculptures previously confiscated from the Metropolitan Museum that had been smuggled out of the People’s Republic in the early 1990s.
The two works, valued at $3.5 million, were on loan to the museum since 1998 by 85-year-old collector and Met board representative Shelby White. From her alone, the judiciary confiscated around 20 stolen objects in 2021 and 2022.
Source: Nachrichten
