No Libyan Artefacts Intercepted by Dubai Auction House

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Matthew Paton, Head of Communications at Christie’s has contested the story that stolen Libyan artefacts were reported to the authorities after they had been offered to Christie's Dubai office (Tom Westcott, 'No Libyan artefacts intercepted by Dubai auction house', Libya Herald 24 October 2012).The news report had been carried by a UAE English-language daily, The National.

“We don’t actually deal with classical works of art in Dubai,” Paton told Libya Herald, “so the story is irrelevant to that site.” [...] “In terms of the Libyan antiquities,” Paton said, “there was a misunderstanding between our man who was interviewed and what was interpreted from what was said, which was if anything did come to us, we would alert the authorities. But actually we haven’t had anything come to us [from Libya] .” [...] “We tend to be the last place you would ever want to go if you did happen to have something you shouldn’t,” Paton explained, “because it does tend to get identified straight away. Even if a stolen artefact makes it into the catalogue, it is then publicised on the website, sent to academics, museums, and the art loss register. This is just such a public process that it tends not to happen.”

 So David Gill, Christos Tsirogiannis and their fellows spotting and questioning items in their catalogues are doing Christie's a favour? Then they should get recompensated for the long hours of work they put in. The Libyan herald however notes somewhat sceptically that this has not always been the case with looted Libyan art. In April 2011 Christie's sold a knocked-off sculpted head of a woman with piggy eyes, probably Flavia Domitilla Minor, the daughter of Emperor Vespasian. So it went through that auction house's rigorous checking procedures. It turned out pretty rapidly that the statue had been excavated in Sabratha (World heritage Site) and on show in the local museum until thieves smashed it and made off with the head in 1990.

When the head was listed at Christie’s, the original ‘auction lot’ notes apparently stated that it was part of a private Swiss collection and had been acquired in 1988.  [Apparently]  several archaeologists alerted Christie’s to its dubious origin and theft from the Sabratha Museum. However, the auctioneers proceeded with the sale and later said they had received no such information before the head went under the hammer. The head of Flavia Domitilla was purchased by an Italian collector for £91,250. Paton told Libya Herald that the head was an exceptional case. “It had gone through the checks and we were informed after the sale that there was a concern there and so we immediately cancelled the sale,” he said.

Ummm? There are a couple of people still saying they alerted Christie's that there were problems about the piece before the sale, so whose memory is right?

One Libyan artefact that did escape the auctioneer’s scrutiny,
dreadful glue-job Flavia Domitilla. Photo: thehistoryblog.com

But Mr Paton, Director of "Communications" did not count on the effects of injuring the Arab dignity. The reply from Dubai is crushing: 'Christie's appraisal fails to find any looted Libyan', The National, Oct 24, 2012.

Suggestions by a Christie's official that antiquities looted in Libya during the Arab Spring had been offered to the auction house prompted the company to carry out a full appraisal of the offices handling such items yesterday [...] A Christie's spokesman said the remarks, made by the official during a visit to Dubai this week, were the result of a "misunderstanding".

Touché.