Sunday, January 7th., 2018
Looted Antiques Seized From Billionaire’s Home, Prosecutors Say
Investigators
raided the office and the Manhattan home of the billionaire Michael H.
Steinhardt on Friday afternoon, carrying off several ancient works that
prosecutors say were looted from Greece and Italy.
Mr. Steinhardt,
a hedge-fund manager and philanthropist, has been collecting art from
ancient Greece for three decades and has close ties to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, where one of the galleries is named for him.
In
a telephone interview, Mr. Steinhardt, 77, declined to comment, “for
now,” on the seizure of at least nine pieces from his private collection
at his Fifth Avenue apartment at 79th Street, a three-floor home that
overlooks Central Park. The authorities also searched Mr. Steinhardt’s
office at 712 Fifth Avenue.
The
seizures marked the latest action in an effort by the Manhattan
district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., to repatriate looted antiquities
discovered in New York City to their countries of origin.
Over
the last year, Mr. Vance has roiled the city’s rarefied art world,
seizing work from major museums, auction houses and private collections.
In recent months, he has returned three ancient statues to Lebanon, a mosaic from one of Caligula’s ships to Italy, and a second-century Buddhist sculpture to Pakistan.
Last
month, Mr. Vance formed an antiquities-trafficking bureau to continue
the work, putting it under the leadership of Matthew Bogdanos, an
assistant district attorney who is a classics scholar and has headed
most of the investigations.
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But
the district attorney’s aggressive efforts have drawn criticism from
collectors, who have argued such disputes over the provenance of ancient
pieces would be better handled in a civil courts. Mr. Vance has been
using a state law that allows prosecutors to return stolen property to
its owner, though so far he has not brought charges against anyone for
possessing the works.
Among
the pieces seized on Friday from Mr. Steinhardt was a Greek
white-ground attic lekythos — or oil vessel — from the fifth century
B.C., depicting a funeral scene with the figures of a woman and a youth,
according to the search warrant. It is worth at least $380,000.
Also
seized were Proto-Corinthian figures from the seventh century B.C.,
depicting an owl and a duck, together worth about $250,000. The other
pieces included an Apulian terra-cotta flask in the shape of an African
head from the fourth century B.C.; an Ionian sculpture of a ram’s head
from the sixth century; and an attic aryballos, a vessel for oil or
perfume, from the early fifth century. The objects were all bought in
the last 12 years for a total cost of $1.1 million, according to the
warrants.
The
district attorney’s office declined to comment on the evidence
underpinning the search warrants. The possible charge listed on the
papers is possession of stolen property.
Mr.
Steinhardt’s collection has come under scrutiny in the past. One of the
pieces returned to Lebanon last month was also discovered by officials
in his apartment in October: a sixth-century B.C. marble torso of a man
carrying a calf, worth about $4.5 million, stolen from the Temple of
Eshmun in Sidon.
In
2015, Mr. Steinhardt had bought the calf bearer from two collectors in
Colorado, William and Lynda Beierwaltes, along with a bull’s head
sculpture, which he had in turn lent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Mr. Vance’s office also took possession of that sculpture on the ground it had been stolen during the Lebanese civil war.
According to court papers, the Beierwaltes had procured the bull’s head from Robin Symes, an antiquities dealer in London.
The
pieces seized on Friday followed the same route, a law enforcement
official familiar with the investigation said. Mr. Steinhardt also
bought them from the Beierwalteses, who had bought them from Mr. Symes,
the officials said.
Manhattan
prosecutors provided photos of the Beierwaltes collection to the
authorities in Italy and Greece and learned there was evidence about 10
pieces the Beierwalteses had sold to Mr. Steinhardt and another six
pieces on display at the Phoenix Ancient Art Gallery on 66th Street had
also been looted.