MetaFilter posts tagged with antiquities

Inside one of the biggest antiquities-smuggling rings in history.

dhruva — Mon, 14 May 2007 20:01:16 -0800

The Idol Thief "Vaman Ghiya operated one of the most extensive and sophisticated clandestine antiquities rings in history, and he had grown rich in the past three decades by smuggling thousands of Indian antiques to auction houses and private collectors in the West."

Leasing Antiquities?

RMD — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:01:43 -0800

Micheal Kremer's proposal to lease antiquities: Most countries prohibit the export of certain antiquities. This practice often leads to illegal excavation and looting for the black market, which damages the items and destroys important aspects of the archaeological record. We argue that long-term leases of antiquities would raise revenue for the country of origin while preserving its long-term ownership rights... via The Art Law Blog

Memory of Mankind

thirteenkiller — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 22:18:48 -0800

A US court has decided that Persian antiquities on loan to the University of Chicago can be confiscated and sold to compensate American victims of Hamas violence in Israel.

Piranesi, etc.

misteraitch — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 13:56:06 -0800

The Works of Giovanni Battista Piranesi: high-resolution scans of all of Piranesi’s etchings. Also, the plates from Les Ruines De Pompei by François Mazois (1812-38), and, the complete 9-volume Le Antichità di Ercolano Esposte (The Antiquities discovered in Herculaneum) published in Naples from 1755-62. Also, at the same site (UT-PICURE: the Center for Research on Pictorial Cultural Resources, at The University of Tokyo), images from the Stibbert Collection of Japanese costume.

Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character

anastasiav — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 08:10:19 -0800

Hillman's Hyperlinked and Searchable Chambers' Book of Days
A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar, Including Anecdote, Biography, & History, Curiosities of Literature and Oddities of Human Life and Character

The ransack of Italy

andrew cooke — Fri, 20 May 2005 08:41:09 -0800

The ransack of Italy is finally becoming big news. The Getty had a reputation for buying Italian antiquities of "uncertain provenance". It recently returned some treasures, but has remained in the market; it also kept the Morgantina Aphrodite. But, perhaps, not for much longer. Marion True, a senior curator there, has just been indicted by the Italian authorities "on criminal charges involving the acquisition of precious antiquities".

Glass in the Roman World

carter — Sun, 18 Apr 2004 07:00:54 -0800

Vitrum: Glass Between Art and Science in the Roman World , an exhibition hosted by the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, describes the use of glass in different areas of Roman life: technology, daily life, architecture, and science. Each of the items in the themed galleries is linked to a large, high-resolution image; some beautiful examples of 2000-year-old glass include: a decorative glass hexagon, a blue glass cup from pompeii, and a striped mosaic glass cup.

Harmonia Macrocosmica

plep — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 06:37:27 -0800

Harmonia Macrocosmica. A digitised book of seventeenth-century astronomy.

Looting Asia's antiquities

homunculus — Sun, 26 Oct 2003 14:41:08 -0800

The trade in stolen Asian relics is booming. TIME reports on how cultural sites are being looted and precious artifacts smuggled overseas. Sometimes they're returned, but much of Asia's cultural heritage is being lost.

Iraq Museum looting

Durwood — Mon, 05 May 2003 19:17:46 -0800

Oh never mind.... The vast majority of antiquities feared stolen or broken have been found inside the National Museum in Baghdad, according to American investigators who compiled an inventory over the weekend of the ransacked galleries. A total of 38 pieces, not tens of thousands, are now believed to be missing, according the Chicago Tribune. Can this be true? Registration required.

Jules is a thief.

insomnia_lj — Wed, 23 Apr 2003 11:56:41 -0800

Jules is a thief. The fact that "all the embedded reporters were doing it" does not make it right. Presumably the US soldiers who were overseeing the embedded reporters knew of this kind of cultural theft -- more than likely, many were a party to it themselves. I'm sending him an email to remind him of that fact, and I will also contact his bosses, urging disciplinary action.

fetishes

pekar wood — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 04:10:46 -0800

Thogchags, Tsha tshas, Netsuke, or ???... What's your favorite fetish?

anathema — Sat, 24 Aug 2002 21:50:39 -0800

The British Museum has put together a beautiful interactive display system they call "Turning the Pages" for some of the rarest books in their collection, including the Sherborne Missal. The technology has been developed to realistically replicate the physical act of turning the pages of each individual book.

skallas — Fri, 29 Jun 2001 06:58:24 -0800

Greeks fill the temple of Zeus full of amps and concert gear for a NASA tribute. Some people look at ancient sites as things to be preserved, but Greece's minister of culture sees them as profitable venues. Next week they'll be using the Parthenon for ammunition storage.

lagado — Mon, 30 Apr 2001 06:51:34 -0800

Pyramids as old as the ones in Egypt found in Peru. Actually, they're more like ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia but hell anyway they're just as old as their Middle Eastern counterparts. Here's a bit more on the Americas' oldest city.

lagado — Sun, 25 Mar 2001 04:32:49 -0800

"The marbles belong to the British Museum ... which does not intend to return any part of the collection to its country of origin," PM Tony Blair ruling out the return to Greece of the so-called "Elgin" marbles, the stone carvings that were unceremoniously hacked off the Parthenon by the Earl of Elgin and carted back to Britain. Nearly 200 years later and despite years of Greek protest, the British Museum is not budging and has maintained thoughout that it has been protecting these antiquities from almost certain destruction (although their own record in this regard has not been great). Should museums today be returning treasures that have were obtained though such looting?