Dear listeners:
As I am now standing erect and being displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who would have ever imagined that I was once a piece of loot and then a commodity on the international antiquities market? Today, I am writing on behalf of all the looted antiquities, especially my fellow figurines who were also illegally excavated on the island of Cyclades and then smuggled out of Greece, to spread our story in an attempt to warn people about “a crime against humanity” that we once suffered.
Fg. 3 Marble Seated Harp Player, c. 2600–2400 B.C.E., Early Cycladic period, marble
Including me, Cycladic figurines in the early Cycladic period were used in graves and were beautifully produced: we were made of marble and appeared harmonious in proportion and shape in a manner that utilizes simplicity and elegance and creates a tension between the abstract and the real. However, it was the beauty and the artistic inspiration sparked from our forms and appearances that rendered waves of illegal excavations and forgeries in Greece.
Fg. 4 Cyclades and Mainland Greece on map
The 1950s and 1960s, in particular, witnessed a vast amount of lootings. Nearly 75% of early Cycladic archaeological sites have been looted in search of figurines to sell on the antiquities market to feed an increasing demand among connoisseurs who prize the enjoyment of the artistic attributes of cultural objects, the investment value of collection, and the social status associated with these values. We were unfortunate, as Greece is one of the source countries where artifacts become mercilessly plundered and targeted source countries mostly tend to be less economically developed and less able to culturally protect their heritage.
Fg.5 Broken figurines found during archaeological excavations on the island of Keros
I am now standing in the Met with many of my friends, while a lot of my fellow statuettes are on display in the British Museum. New York and London are the two major active sites for underground art markets. They have shown a surprisingly large demand for archaeological goods, like us from Cyclades, for years, from countries such as Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and Southeast Asia. My provenance has been lost to the public and no one would know the tomb that I come from except me, since the mystery of my fate was never fully detected, nor inquired, when I was transacted whether in the open market or in private auctions and museum acquisitions. The mystery of my origin prevents me from being fully interpreted by researchers and thus perhaps an important part of history or culture that I may have carried would be lost.
I started seeing hope when criticism took place in the 1960s. UNESCO has for decades led global efforts in preserving cultural heritage, as it brought countries together through the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property in 1970 to protect the world’s cultural heritage from exploitation by market forces. However, not all buyers obey the rules and problems persist. Just this month, Greece approved an agreement with the Met, a top Athens museum and a Delaware-based cultural institution to which works will be returned to Greece gradually from 2033 to 2048, after being displayed at the Met from 2023 to 2048. Peace seems to be created, but a lack of immediate return seems to whitewash the illegal behaviors they have conducted. This deal also does not sound like repatriation as it required parliament ratification and as many critics have already noted, it violates many articles of the Greek archaeological law. Billionaire Leonard Stern, whose collection of Cycladic figurines will nominally come under the ownership of the Greek State but in fact be transferred to a new entity which Stern set up together with a private museum in Athens, is not destined to any consequences. In general, looting, like many other “destructions” of artwork, is an act of robbing, as pointed out by a letter to the British Museum.
I crave for the day when I, and my fellow figurines, would be securely returned to where we were born, no matter how many efforts would be required for that day to come.
Sincerely,
A marble female figure in Met,
11/11/2022
Byline: Xinran Wang is from Qingdao, China and is a member of Colgate Class of 2026. She’s currently undecided, but she is interested in art history. She chose to write about the looting of Cycladic figurines because she was infuriated by the loss of history it resulted.
