[MSN] Getty Will Return 2 Greek Artifacts. Greece applauds the move.

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Getty Will Return 2 Greek Artifacts
Greece applauds the move. But two items of greater significance and value
remain in disputel
By Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, Times Staff Writers
July 11, 2006 


The J. Paul Getty Trust agreed Monday to return two antiquities that Greek
authorities say were taken illegally from their country.

The move to repatriate a 4th century BC inscribed tombstone and a 5th
century BC marble relief, both on display at the Getty Villa, comes two
months after museum director Michael Brand visited Athens and promised to
address a decade-old request by the Greek government for the return of four
disputed objects in the Getty's collection. 

 Monday's announcement, made in a joint statement released by the museum and
Greek officials, marks an important step in addressing Greece's claim, but
leaves unresolved the fate of the other two artifacts, which are of greater
archeological significance and value. 

A Greek law enforcement source said Monday that a criminal investigation of
the Getty's acquisition of one of them, a gold funerary wreath, could lead
to criminal charges in the coming weeks. Targets could include Marion True,
the Getty's former antiquities curator who recommended acquiring the
artifact, as well as board members who approved the acquisition, the source
said. True is being tried in Italy on charges of conspiracy to traffic in
looted art. 

Getty spokesman Ron Hartwig dismissed as speculation the possibility of
criminal charges being filed in Greece.

"We don't think the Greek government - and certainly not the Getty - would
find it productive to do anything that would dampen the positive
relationship we've begun to build," he said.

But as in Italy, police and prosecutors in Greece are independent of the
Cultural Ministry officials with whom the Getty has been negotiating.

In the spring, agents twice raided True's vacation home on the island of
Paros, seizing several unregistered antiquities of little value. Greek
authorities said they were still weighing whether to charge the curator for
possession of the artifacts. 

In April, agents also raided an Athens residence and the former Greek island
summer home of London antiquities dealer Robin Symes, a major supplier to
the Getty. In that search, about 300 unregistered antiquities were
confiscated - reportedly the largest seizure in recent Greek history. 

The raid also netted photos of dozens more objects handled by Symes,
including several now at the Getty, Greek law enforcement sources said
Monday. Those at the Getty may be added to the list of objects the Greeks
want from the museum.

A similar seizure of photographs from a Geneva warehouse in 1995 launched
Italian authorities on a decade-long investigation of the illicit
antiquities trade and ultimately led to the criminal charges against True in
Rome. Paolo Ferri, the prosecutor in True's trial, said Monday he will
travel to Athens next week to exchange evidence with Greek investigators.

Among the evidence Italy has already shared with Greece is a photograph of a
gold funerary wreath very similar to the one at the Getty, records show. The
photo was sent to a Swiss dealer targeted by the Italians, and came in an
envelope with a return address in Thessaloniki, Greece, not far from the
site of ancient Macedonia, where the Getty's funerary wreath is believed to
have come from.

Italian authorities believe that the Swiss dealer turned down the object
before it was offered to True. 

The curator first viewed the wreath in 1992, when she met two men who showed
her the 2,500-year-old piece in a Zurich bank vault, according to internal
Getty documents. True walked away when she determined that one of the men
was an "impostor" and wrote in a letter that the wreath was "too dangerous
for [the Getty] to be involved with," the documents show.

Four months later, however, True notified an intermediary in the deal that
she had changed her mind and would purchase the artifact. 

Prior to the purchase, the Getty sent a letter informing the Greek Culture
Ministry that the Getty intended to buy the wreath and two other objects,
the tombstone that the museum has agreed to return and a partial statue of a
young woman, or "kore," that is still in dispute. At the time of the
purchase, the museum asked for any information that would put the works'
provenance in doubt.

Culture officials said they immediately replied that the wreath and kore
were almost certainly looted because such objects were rarely found outside
of Greece, which claims legal ownership of all antiquities found in the
country after the nation's independence in 1830. Officials asked for more
information on the tombstone, which contained distinctive writing from
Boeotia, a region of Greece.

Despite the warnings, the Getty went ahead with the purchase of the objects,
paying $5.2 million for the three, which are now considered masterpieces of
the Getty's collection.

In 1996, the Greek government made its first formal request for the return
of the tombstone, the kore, the wreath and a votive relief purchased by J.
Paul Getty in 1955, which had since been identified as stolen from a storage
room at the archeological site of Thassos. 

True responded for the museum by saying there was insufficient evidence of
looting, records show. The Greeks renewed the request in early 2005 and then
announced a criminal investigation.

http://www.latimes.com/