New York has gained a notorious reputation as a global hub for art trafficking, with prosecutors seizing hundreds of priceless artifacts looted from around the world. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and other major institutions and collectors have been compelled to return these works to more than a dozen countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. The extent of these seizures and subsequent repatriations leaves no doubt about New York’s involvement in the illicit trade of antiquities, according to Christos Tsirogiannis, a forensic archaeologist and art historian.
Tsirogiannis, along with David Gill from Kent Law School in Britain, has been assisting the Manhattan district attorney’s campaign to repatriate stolen art to their countries of origin. Since 2017, prosecutors have returned pieces looted from around 20 countries between the 1970s and 1990s, including works from ancient Greece, the Roman and Byzantine empires, Iraq, China, India, and Southeast Asia.
Under the leadership of district attorney Alvin Bragg, the pace of repatriations has accelerated. Over the past two years, more than 950 pieces worth $165 million have been returned to countries such as Cambodia, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, and Italy. Recently, Bragg returned two 7th-century stone sculptures to Beijing, valued at $3.5 million, which had been illegally exported from China and were loaned to the Met by collector Shelby White until their seizure this year. White, a billionaire philanthropist and Met trustee, had her home searched by prosecutors but is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Tsirogiannis and Gill believe that White’s acquisitions, made with her late husband Leon Levy, may have been unwise, especially after the 1970 UNESCO Convention aimed at preventing the trafficking of cultural property. White had previously returned pieces to Italy and Greece, suggesting she should have had serious doubts about the origins of the remaining artworks.
Other art dealers have also been forced to return works. Collector Michael Steinhardt handed back 180 antiquities worth $70 million, while art dealer Subhash Kapoor was sentenced to ten years in prison in India for his involvement in art smuggling. In September, Bragg returned 16 pieces to Egypt, including five seized from the Met, as part of a joint investigation with Paris authorities, which led to charges against the former president of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez.
In response to these issues, the Met has announced its intention to examine the provenance of hundreds of objects in its collection and return them to their countries of origin as necessary. The district attorney’s efforts and the growing awareness about the importance of provenance in the art world highlight the need to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts and restore stolen heritage to its rightful owners.