Getty Museum doubts the authenticity of its collection of ancient amber

In the wake of the scandal surrounding the acquisition of stolen antiquities, The Getty Museum trying to verify the origin of 45,000 antiquities and publish the results in the museum’s online database.

Photo © 2012 J. Paul Getty Trust

Research aimed at making the origin of exhibits of the ancient art collection more transparent began last summer, museum spokesman Ron Hartwig said.

“In this work, as in all of our work, when we need to identify objects that require further discussion and research, we conduct the necessary research to determine whether the part is genuine,” Hartwig said in a statement to The Times.

According to the publication, problems with Getty Museum Antiquities Collection much deeper than was commonly thought. Hundreds of objects in the collection were acquired using false property documents, which casts doubt on their origin, as well as the legitimacy of the transaction.

The depth of the problem became clear in November 2012, when the museum published the catalog “Ancient Carved Ambers in the J. Paul Getty Museum” of 56 samples of amber crafts belonging, supposedly, to the ancient Greeks and Etruscans, who endowed this stone with magical properties and used in their amulets. This discovery seemed rare in its value from the point of view of the study of artifacts of the ancient world.

But later published data, including the museum’s internal files, show that amber samples were taken from tombs in northern Italy. These items were purchased through a large smuggling network by Giacomo Medici, who was convicted in Italy for conducting illegal excavations and trafficking in artifacts. After amber arrived in the United States, it was donated to the Getty Museum as part of a tax fraud scheme.

Photo © 2012 J. Paul Getty Trust

The catalog "Ancient Carved Ambers in the J. Paul Getty Museum", of course, is silent about this story, and a museum representative said that at the time of publication they did not know the details of the origin of amber crafts.

“Were these things part of the dowry, relics or gifts?” Writes Faya Causey, author of the catalog. “Unfortunately, we can only guess if the amber was actually in the possession of the people with whom it was buried, how these objects were acquired and what their role was in religious or other activities.”

The situation around the amber collection is a good characterization of the situation in which the Getty Museum is today. Being forced to largely abandon the purchase of objects of ancient art, he uses his unprecedented resources to restore the "past" of already purchased things.

The bulk of the collection of ancient amber was donated to the museum between 1976 and 1983 by a certain Gordon McLendon, who was not known as a collector of works of art. How did he become the owner of a collection of ancient world-class amber? And why did he give it to the museum, was he so rich that he did not need a reward?

Photo © 2012 J. Paul Getty Trust

The answers are in the museum documents compiled by Arthur Houghton, a former assistant curator for antiquities. It was Houghton who initiated the internal investigation into the amber collection, shortly after its acquisition in 1983. At first, the investigation of Houghton, and then the lawyers of the museum, confirmed that McLendon was part of a fraudulent scheme.

It was organized by the curator of the ancient art department of the Getty Museum, Jiri Frel and his accomplices. The scheme included the supply of thousands of artifacts stolen in Italy, Turkey and Greece. At the same time, their cost was grossly overstated, and the copies themselves were presented to the museum as a gift in exchange for fraudulent write-offs of taxes.

Over the years, the Getty Museum has received about 6,000 such donations from more than 100 donors totaling about $ 15 million. Only MacLendon donated more than 900 objects.

Anna Sidorova