December 6, 2013 - Page 2 of 2 - Auction Central News

Egypt’s antiquities fall victim to political chaos

Inside The Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Photo by Kristoferb, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

CAIRO (AP) – The home of Egypt’s mummies and King Tutankhamun’s treasures is trying to make the best out of the worst times of political turmoil. But the Egyptian Museum is taking a hammering on multiple levels, from riots on its doorstep to funding so meager it can’t keep up paper clip supplies for its staff.

The museum, a treasure trove of pharaonic antiquities, has long been one of the centerpieces of tourism to Egypt. But the constant instability since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak has dried up the industry, slashing a key source of revenue. Moreover, political backbiting and attempts to stop corruption have had a knock-on effect of bringing a de facto ban on sending antiquities on tours to museums abroad, cutting off what was once a major source of funding for the state.

Optimistically looking ahead, the museum is trying to turn its fortunes around with an extensive renovation of the 111-year-old salmon-colored building

The repeated eruption of protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where the museum is located, has also scared away visitors. Over the summer there were the giant rallies that led to the July 3 military coup ousting Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. In recent weeks, protesters have returned to Tahrir, now venting their anger at the military-backed government that took its place.

“Tahrir Square is considered as the birthplace of the Egyptian revolution, and the museum is like a thermometer. It gets affected by the political situation at the square,” said Sayed Amer, the director of the Egyptian Museum, in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

The antiquities minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, tried to put a brave face, saying at least the museum remains open.

“Sometimes the square is closed but we keep the museum open,” he said.

On recent visits to the museum by the AP, there were only a handful of foreign visitors, and none at its most prized exhibits of mummies and King Tut’s treasures.

The palatial museum is trying to make the most of the dry times. The décor will get a makeover, and lighting and security systems will be upgraded in an overhaul, in cooperation with Germany, costing more than $4.3 million.

Plans are also being drawn up to demolish the neighboring high-rise that housed the former headquarters of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, which was burned during the uprising, to create an open-air, Nile-side exhibition garden for the museum.

King Tut’s treasures will be moved to a new Grand Egyptian Museum under construction near the Giza pyramids, due to be finished in 2015. The plan reflects in part the embarrassment of riches Egypt enjoys in pharaonic artifacts: The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir is so overflowing with objects that more than half its collection sits in storage in its basement – in less than ideal conditions – meaning there’s plenty to draw visitors to both museums.

Amid the budget crunch, staffers are trying to find other sources of revenue.

Yasmin el-Shazly, the head of the Documentation Department that tracks the museum’s 200,000 items, set up a fundraising mechanism to bring in donations for the museum independently of the government.

Donations collected by the Friends of the Egyptian Museum group will help fund academic research in the museum, raise awareness of its projects and empower Egyptian experts and museum’s staff, who have gone without salaries for months.

“We don’t even have the money to buy office supplies like paper clips and pens, and pay for computer maintenance,” el-Shazly said. “It’s always been difficult because the money generated by the museum went to the government and rarely came back to us. But now, with no money coming from tourism, it’s worse than ever.”

Ibrahim said the ministry’s revenues, including the entrance fees from tourist sites, fell from 111 million Egyptian pounds ($16 million) in October 2010 to 7 million Egyptian pounds ($1.14 million) in October 2013.

Even more detrimental, few if any of Egypt’s precious antiquities are touring abroad.

A visit in October by a team of experts from the British Museum resulted only in words of hope for a renewed cooperation in the future and some training opportunities for Egyptian staff in London. Japanese exhibition organizers interested in a tour exhibit for objects from the King Tut collection left Egypt with no deal.

Such foreign tours were a lucrative revenue source, but virtually ground to a halt after Egypt’s chief archaeologist during Mubarak’s rule, Zahi Hawass, was forced to resign in 2011 on corruption allegations. Hawass denied the allegations, and he was not charged.

Last year, Morsi’s government cut short a Cleopatra-themed exhibit on tour in the United States after a Cairo court ruled that some of its pieces are too unique to allow out of the country and had to return immediately.

Antiquities officials are now reluctant to sign any deals with exhibitions abroad for fear of being accused of corruption – or worse – of being unpatriotic for sending away Egypt’s patrimony amid the nationalist wave sweeping Egypt following the July coup.

The Cleopatra exhibit toured four U.S. cities, starting with Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute in June 2010. It included artifacts ranging from tiny gold coins to a pair of towering eight-ton granite figures, raised by French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio from submerged ruins off the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Ordering it home lost Egypt millions of dollars, said Lotfi Gazy, the museum’s antiquities affairs director.

Egypt was earning $450,000 dollars from each city the exhibit traveled to, plus $1 million for every 100,000 visitors and a 10 percent cut from merchandizing sales, Gazy said.

“It was a disaster for us,” Gazy said. No new contract has been signed since then.

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Follow Barbara Surk on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BarbaraSurkAP .

AP-WF-12-04-13 1600GMT

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NY antiques dealer to serve 37 months for rhino horn, ivory smuggling

As part of Operation Crash, federal agents raided a New York apartment and seized four black rhinoceros mounts, three of which did not have horns and one that had fake horns attached. Photo courtesy of United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York.

NEW YORK – Qiang Wang, a k a Jeffrey Wang, a New York antiques dealer, was sentenced in federal court in Manhattan yesterday to 37 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to smuggle Asian artifacts made from rhinoceros horns and ivory and violate wildlife trafficking laws, announced Robert G. Dreher, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Dan Ashe, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wang was arrested in February 2013 as part of “Operation Crash,” a nation-wide crackdown in the illegal trafficking in rhinoceros horns, for his role in smuggling “libation cups” carved from rhinoceros horns from New York to China. Wang was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the Southern District of New York.

“Smuggling wildlife artifacts made from rhino horn and elephant ivory undermines the international conservation protections put in place to save these species from extinction ,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Dreher. “This is an active and ongoing investigation that is designed to send a clear message to buyers and sellers that we will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who are involved in this devastating trade.”

“With his sentence today, Qiang Wang is held accountable for his role in feeding the flourishing black market for artifacts made from endangered species,” said U.S. Attorney Bharara. “This Office will continue its work to prosecute those who contribute to the illegal wildlife trade, and to uphold the rules designed to protect wildlife.”

“ We’re reaching a tipping point, where the unprecedented slaughter of rhinos and elephants happening now threatens the viability of these iconic species’ wild populations in Africa,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “.This slaughter is fueled by illegal trade, including that exposed by Operation Crash. We will continue to work relentlessly across the United States government and with our international partners to crack down on poaching and wildlife trafficking.”

According to the information, plea agreement and statements made during court proceedings:

In China, there is a tradition dating back centuries of intricately carving rhinoceros horn cups. Drinking from such a cup was believed by some to bring good health, and antique carvings are highly prized by collectors. Libation cups and other ornamental carvings are particularly sought after in China and in other Asian countries, as well as in the United States. The escalating value of such items has resulted in an increased demand for rhinoceros horn that has helped fuel a thriving black market, including fake antiques made from more recently hunted rhinoceros.

In pleading guilty, Wang admitted to participating in a conspiracy to smuggle objects carved from rhinoceros horn and elephant ivory out of the United States knowing that it was illegal to export such items without required permits. Due to their dwindling populations, all rhinoceros and elephant species are protected under international trade agreements. Wang falsely labeled the packages in order to conceal the true contents and did not declare them as required. Special Agents with the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service executed a search of Wang’s apartment in Flushing, New York, and found documents showing Wang was involved in buying rhino horn and ivory artifacts and smuggling them to China. Agents seized two ivory carvings, including one found hidden behind Wang’s bed that were forfeited as part of the sentence. Numerous photographs of raw and carved rhinoceros horn, including approximately 10 different raw rhinoceros horns, were found on Wang’s computer and telephone consistent with a common practice of emailing or texting photographs of items for sale in order to receive instructions on whether to purchase the items and how much to pay. According to prosecutors, Wang had told other dealers that he was seeking raw rhino horns to send to China.

In sentencing Wang , Judge Forrest said that his behavior helped “create and sustain a marketplace for goods made from endangered wildlife.” Judge Forrest also said that Wang’s conduct was “illegal and extremely troubling.”

In addition to the prison term, Judge Forrest ordered Wang, 34, of Flushing, N.Y., to forfeit certain ivory goods in his possession, and banned him from all future trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn. Wang was also sentenced to serve a term of three years of supervised release.

Rhinoceros are an herbivore species of prehistoric origin and one of the largest remaining mega-fauna on earth. They have no known predators other than humans. All species of rhinoceros are protected under United States and international law. Since 1976, trade in rhinoceros horn has been regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty signed by over 170 countries around the world to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become imperiled due to the demands of international markets.

Operation Crash is a continuing investigation being conducted by the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in coordination with other federal and local law enforcement agencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. A “crash” is the term for a herd of rhinoceros. Operation Crash is an ongoing effort to detect, deter and prosecute those engaged in the illegal killing of rhinoceros and the unlawful trafficking of rhinoceros horns.

The investigation by was handled by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office Complex Frauds Unit and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, with assistance from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation . Assistant U.S. Attorney Janis M. Echenberg and Senior Counsel Richard A. Udell of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section are in charge of the prosecution.

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Romanian held in Britain over 2012 Dutch art heist

Monet's 'Waterloo Bridge' is one of the stolen paintings. Rotterdam Police image, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AFP) – A Romanian man accused of stealing seven masterpieces from a Dutch museum was arrested in Britain after months on the run, Romania’s Interior Ministry said Friday.

“Following an exchange of information between Interpol Romania and Interpol Manchester, one of the suspects accused of the theft of several paintings in Rotterdam was arrested in Britain,” the ministry said in a statement. According to the Kent police in Britain, Adrian Procop, 21, was arrested at the Eurotunnel Folkestone outbound terminal.

“He was charged with possessing false identification papers with intent and remanded to Westminster Magistrates Court,” the police said in a statement sent to AFP.

Procop is accused of stealing masterpieces by Picasso, Monet and Gauguin in an October 2012 heist at the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam.

“British judicial authorities have now to decide on his transfer to Romania,” the Romanian ministry added.

“His arrest is good news,” a spokeswoman at the Kunsthal museum told AFP.

According to Romanian prosecutors, Procop entered the Kunsthal museum at night with a friend, Radu Dogaru, and stole artworks worth 18 million euros ($24 million).

Among the paintings stolen were Pablo Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Claude Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, and Femme Devant une Fenetre Ouverte, dite La Fiancee by Paul Gauguin.

Last week, Dogaru was sentenced to nearly seven years in jail by a Bucharest court but the fate of the paintings remains a mystery.

The artworks are feared to have been destroyed after Dogaru’s mother, who is also facing trial, said she torched them in her stove in the village of Carcaliu in eastern Romania. She later retracted her statement.

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Il mercato dell’arte in Italia: Stampe e disegni da Gonnelli

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carceri d'Invenzione. Magnifica edizione romana, 1761, base d'asta €40.000. Courtesy Gonnelli Firenze.

Il 12 dicembre va all’asta da Gonnelli a Firenze una selezione di 480 lotti suddivisi in quattro categorie: accanto alle stampe e disegni del XVI-XVIII secolo e a quelli del XIX-XX secolo, c’è una sezione dedicata ad un grande maestro della stampa, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778), che con la sua visionarietà è stato capace di influenzare generazioni di artisti, e un’originalissima sezione dedicata a disegni e bozzetti provenienti dal mondo del costume, della moda e del teatro.

È un’asta che si rivolge, quindi, ad un pubblico eterogeneo fatto non solo di specialisti, ma anche di coloro che sanno farsi affascinare da una stampa o un disegno antico.

Soprattutto la sezione dedicata ai disegni di moda è molto particolare: “Abbiamo acquisito una serie di collezioni da cui siamo stati in grado di isolare questo ambito in un catalogo a sé”, spiega il direttore della casa d’aste Marco Manetti. “È un esperimento ma ha tutte le caratteristiche per avere successo internazionale. Non è facile trovare una collezione così vasta di questo tipo di opere; di solito si trovano singoli fogli. E inoltre la moda è un argomento che attrae le attenzioni di un largo pubblico internazionale e anche con risorse importanti. Per esempio a Firenze c’è il museo della moda fondato dallo stilista Ferragamo, che ha in collezione anche bozzetti di moda dell’800-900”.

Tra gli autori presenti in asta ci sono nomi celebri di questo genere come Erté (1892-1990), artista francese di origini russe che fu uno dei massimi esponenti dell’art déco (lotto 448, base d’asta di €2.000), e Umberto Brunelleschi (1879-1949), artista italiano che si trasferì a Parigi nel 1900 e a partire dagli anni 20 lavorò come scenografo e costumista in locali come Les Folies Bergère, ma anche teatri come La Scala di Milano (lotti 183, 433, 434, 435, basi d’asta da €150 a €700).

L’altra sezione di particolare rilievo è quella dedicata a Piranesi, dove spicca un volume completo di 16 acqueforti delle “Carceri d’invenzione”, difficile da trovare perché spesso questi volumi vengono smembrati per vendere i fogli singolarmente. Si tratta della seconda edizione romana del 1761. È un lotto rilevante sia per quanto riguarda la qualità di stampa, sia per quanto riguarda lo stato di conservazione. Le quotazioni sul mercato solitamente sono più alte. Qui la base d’asta è di €40.000 (lotto 148).

La visionarietà di questa serie di Piranesi, artista molto richiesto anche a livello internazionale, ha influito movimenti artistici più tardi come il Romanticismo e il Surrealismo fino all’artista olandese Escher, ma anche film e musiche contemporanei.

Nella sezione dei disegni antichi si segnalano il lotto 4, una testa a matita rossa della stretta cerchia di Michelangelo Buonarroti, interessante per un approfondimento da parte di qualche studioso (base d’asta €5.000), e poi il lotto 34: uno studio architettonico di Bernardo Buontalenti. È importante, anche se si tratta solo di un fregio, perché non è facile trovare disegni del Buontalenti sul mercato, sia per una produzione limitata, sia perché la sua produzione è già entrata nelle istituzioni e in Italia le istituzioni non possono vendere opere della collezione (base d’asta €9.000).

Il mercato dei disegni antichi gode attualmente di particolare attenzione anche a livello internazionale. E questo a scapito delle stampe dei maestri antichi, per le quali, invece, in questo momento non c’è un grande mercato – a meno che non si tratti di esemplari rari sul mercato e pregiati, sia per la qualità della stampa, ma soprattutto per lo stato di conservazione, che è diventato fondamentale. Non ci devono essere segni di restauro, difetti, tagli, abrasioni, ecc. poiché, mentre prima le stampe mal conservate si vendevano a prezzi più bassi, oggi rimangono invendute.

La casa d’aste Gonnelli è specializzata in questo segmento del mercato, la grafica, e in quello del libro antico. Non è solo una casa d’asta ma anche libreria antiquaria, e mantiene così dall’Ottocento una tradizione che in Italia è scomparsa (in Germania, invece, è rimasta) per creare dinamicità in un settore, quello dell’antiquariato, che vive un periodo difficile, tanto che molti antiquari italiani si spostano all’estero. È tra le librerie antiquarie più antiche d’Italia (è stata fondata nel 1875) e non ha mai cambiato la sua sede. Si trova dietro al Duomo di Firenze. La casa d’asta è attiva dal 1880.

Il mercato del libro in Italia è in crisi non tanto per quanto riguarda l’offerta, che è ricca, ma per la scarsità di domanda, dovuta sia alla crisi economica, sia al ricambio generazionale. “È necessario avvicinare i giovani al libro antico”, dice Marco Manetti. “Di fronte a questo segmento spesso si teme di non avere la preparazione”.

La casa d’asta lavora molto con l’estero, per esempio con gli Stati Uniti, la Gran Bretagna, la Francia, anche se le leggi di esportazioni restrittive dell’Italia non facilitano il loro lavoro. Anzi, lo rallentano in un mercato che oggi è frenetico. “Per richiedere un permesso di esportazione ci vogliono 40 giorni e i clienti all’estero non vogliono aspettare”, spiega Manetti. “Noi svolgiamo le pratiche di esportazione per i collezionisti perché per loro sarebbe estremamente difficile rapportarsi alla burocrazia italiana, che cambia anche da regione a regione”.

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