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Metropolitan Museum and Italy to Meet on Disputed Antiquities

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Italian culture ministry officials have agreed to meet to discuss objects in the New York museum's collection that Italy says were looted, museum spokesman Harold Holzer said.


Holzer confirmed in an e-mail that such a meeting is being arranged after Italian Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione said today that he'd contacted the director of the Metropolitan, Philippe de Montebello, about the antiquities.


The disputed items include a Greek pot for mixing wine that Italian prosecutors say was taken from a tomb outside Rome and that the Met bought for $1 million in 1972.


``I have asked Mr. de Montebello to come to Rome to talk to our experts,'' Buttiglione said at a news conference in Rome.


The meeting comes as U.S. dealer Robert Hecht, 86, goes on trial next week in Rome for allegedly supplying looted art to the Metropolitan, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and others, according to his indictment. His co-defendant is the Getty's former antiquities chief, Marion True, 57.


Hecht denied the charges, and the Getty, speaking for True who declined comment, has said it expects her to be exonerated. No museum has been charged with any crime.


Trojan War


Hecht is charged in connection with two items at the Met, a 15-piece set of Hellenistic silver that Italian authorities say was looted from Morgantina in Sicily, and the Euphronios krater, the pot for mixing wine, which is painted with a scene from the Trojan War. Italian prosecutors have named six other items at the Met as looted, court records show.


The Metropolitan said Oct. 27 it had contacted the Italian culture ministry in February to request a discussion of works in its collection that were the subject of the ministry's concern.


Buttiglione made his comments about the Metropolitan during a news conference to mark the return of a 2,300-year-old Greek pot and two other antiquities surrendered by the Getty, which is also a focus of Italian repatriation efforts.


Asked whether he wanted talks with museums such as Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, which Italian prosecutors also say holds looted antiquities, Buttiglione said, ``For the other museums, the relations are in a less mature state.''


Boston's MFA said it has asked the Italian government for more information and would return any stolen objects.


The Princeton museum said it has provided Italian authorities with information on a pot that's listed in Hecht's indictment. The Cleveland museum didn't respond to requests for comment.

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To contact the reporter on this story:
Vernon Silver in Rome at [email protected].

Last Updated: November 11, 2005 08:45 EST