Shelby White Returns Antiquities
Italy Regains Ten Artifacts from Famous Private American Collection
Antiquities collector Shelby White ceded 10 Greek and Etruscan antiquities to the Italian government on January 16, 2008.
Italy's Ministry of Culture revealed that after 18 months of somewhat arduous negotiations, New York philanthropist and antiquities collector Shelby White, a trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, returned nine Greek and Etruscan antiquities to the Italian Consulate in Manhattan on Wednesday, January 16, 2008. As part of her groundbreaking agreement with the Italian government, she will retain a 5th-century B.C. vessel signed by the painter Euphronios until 2010.
Ms. White's holdings include priceless ancient Near Eastern, Aegean, Greek, Roman and Central Asian antiquities. Her historic arrangement prohibits Italy from pursuing title to any objects that she and her late husband, Wall Street financier Leon Levy, exhibited at The Met in Glories of the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection (1990). The deal she brokered does not prevent Italy from laying claim to other objects in her possession should evidence indicate that any of them were possibly looted.
Other works owned by White were recently on view in Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus (2003) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as in Greek Bronze Vessels from the Collection of Shelby White and Leon Levy (2005) and Reading the Roman Portrait Bust: Ancient Faces from the Collection of Shelby White and Leon Levy (2006), both at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
In a joint statement prepared by the Italian Ministry of Culture and the collector, Shelby White said: "From the beginning, Leon and I collected with the intention of preserving the past, so that people around the world could learn more about their history. That's why we have supported many facets of archaeology -- excavations, publications, exhibitions, conservation, and education, and that is why we established the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. Our collection was purchased at public auction and from dealers we believed to be reputable. In the case of the returned objects I believe I have taken the appropriate action."
White's Institute
In addition to a gift of $20 million to The Met for its recently expanded and reinstalled Greek and Roman Galleries, the Leon Levy Foundation pledged $200 million to New York University to develop its Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, located in a townhouse diagonally across the street from the museum at 15 East 84 Street in Manhattan. Graduate courses are scheduled to commence in Fall 2008. The project is supported by the professors of ancient art and architecture at NYU's nearby Institute of Fine Arts.
For 2008, the ISAW has an exhibition and a conference planned:
- Wine, Worship and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani, set to open in March 2008, examines the eastern Black Sea culture of ancient Colchis in present-day Georgia through more than 100 spectacular objects from the principle sanctuary city of Vani. Bronze and iron religious figurines, ceramics, gold and silver jewelry, drinking vessels and glassware from a burial site describe the civilization that guarded the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology. The exhibition, greatly expanded since its three-city European tour, is presently on view at Washington, D.C.'s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (December 1, 2007-February 24, 2008).
- Cross-Cultural Approaches to Family and Household Structures in the Ancient World (May 9-10, 2008) brings together 23 international scholars to present their findings about similarities and differences between ancient family and household from the western Mediterranean to China.
Source:
- Von Bothmer, Dietrich (ed.), et al. Glories of the Past:: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990.
