[Exhibit] Italy seeks ancient loot from Symes Trustees [pics of items inside]

[DAVIDE]

"The collection represents a selection of objects from a larger collection formed by Maurice Tempelsman, a diamond merchant resident in New York, over the past twenty-five years. The individual pieces come from a variety of sources, although the largest number were provided directly by, or were bought legally through, Robin Symes of London. All have been legally imported into the U.S. The collection is currently in the Museum." -- Acquisition Notes of Getty Museum antiquities curator Arthur Houghton cited in The Medici Conspiracy.

Among the high profile clients of British antiquities dealer Robin Symes was Maurice Tempelsman -- one of the pillars of the Eastern Establishment (Council on Foreign Relations, African American Institute, long-time beau of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and "friend" of former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright); Leon Levy & Shelby White and the Metropolitan Museum of Art were customers too. Symes bought his pieces primarily from now-convicted antiquities smuggler Giacomo Medici, the man who sold the Euphronios Sarpedon vases to Bob Hecht.
In a reversal of fortune beginning with the accidental death of Symes's long-time business partner and companion Christos Michaelides ten years ago at a dinner party in Italy hosted by Levy & White and then many months in prison in the UK -- Symes, once the prince of the ancient art trade, is now bankrupt. And Italy is asking for restitution of some 1,000 artifacts from Symes's Trustees in Bankruptcy, according to Maurizio Fiorilli, the lawyer for Italy's Ministry of Culture who negotiated the return of the Euphronios krater and other treasures from America's museums.
Although Symes destroyed most of the documents related to his business partnership with Michaelides, there is still an indelible photo trail. Here is a sampling of the pieces Italy seeks as part of its cultural patrimony. In many cases there is an exact match of photos of objects seized during raids on Medici in Geneva and Santa Marinella and those from the Symes hoard.








Etruscan terracotta relief, draped woman Southern Etruria







Etruscan terracotta head





Etruscan gold and glass beaded necklace with round flat pendant





Etruscan gold and blue class beaded necklace with gold amphora





Earthenware pot with applied panel relief decoration from Vulci, 7th Century BC






Patera with handle in human shape, Greek from Southern Italy, 6th Century BC






Bone fibulae - dolphins from Taranto




Terracotta vegetal ornaments from Taranto





Foot of black-figure Attic vase with Etruscan inscription




Italic or Etruscan bronze statuette, 6th - 5th Century BC





Silver phiale, two silver cups (calathus) and a silver patera, 1st - 2nd Century AD. Similar to artifacts from Pompeii, Ercolano and Boscoreale




Carinated cup with baccellature common to the Vesuvian area, decorated on the outward side with leaf designs in pairs.







http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S00311.htm