Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-11T17:07:05.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“Sleeper” Antiquities: Misattributions in Sales of Ancient Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2020

James Marrone  and
Silvia Beltrametti
James Marrone
Affiliation:
RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA, United States; Email: James_Marrone@rand.org
Silvia Beltrametti
Affiliation:
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States: Email: sbeltrametti@saic.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

“Sleepers” are artworks or collectibles that are undervalued because one or more characteristics go unrecognized. This article discusses 12 sleepers that have been sold at auction on the antiquity market since 2007 whose attribution as antiquities were originally overlooked, either accidentally or deliberately. The objects are presented in the context of a theoretical framework describing both the legal and economic incentives to perform due diligence and to reveal, or “awaken,” a sleeper antiquity. The theory implies that sleepers may arise for several reasons, and the case studies are grouped accordingly. Most pressingly, the analysis identifies two ways in which sellers are disincentivized to be transparent about an object’s identity: when they can exploit legal loopholes to deliberately misattribute an antiquity and mediate export and when they can hide disagreement about an object’s authenticity to mediate its sale. Placing the case studies in the broader market context, we highlight particular areas that should be addressed by policy or regulatory reform. The analysis also has wider applications to other forms of art.

Type
Article
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 3 - 51
Copyright
The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International Cultural Property Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Acknowledgments: The authors thank the following for valuable insight and advice: seminar participants of the Art History and Arts Administration Departments at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Molly Morse Limmer, staff at Christie’s New York, Harry Apter, Tomasso Brothers, Kay Denton, and Morag Kersel. We are also grateful to the staff of the Ryerson and Burnham Library at the Art Institute of Chicago for their constant and invaluable assistance.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aitken, M. J., and Fleming, S. J.. 1968. “Thermoluminescent Dating of Ancient Pottery.” Nature 219: 442–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amineddoleh, L. 2013. “The Role Of Museums in the Trade of Black Market Cultural Heritage Property.” Art, Antiquity and Law 18: 227–54.Google Scholar
Amineddoleh, L. 2015. “Purchasing Art in a Market Full of Forgeries: Risks and Legal Remedies for Buyers.” International Journal of Cultural Property 22: 419–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashenfelter, O., and Graddy, K.. 2010. “Art Auctions,” CEPS Working Paper no. 203.Google Scholar
Ashton, S.-A. 2004. Roman Egyptomania. London: Golden House.Google Scholar
Bandle, A.-L. 2016. The Sales of Misattributed Works at Auction. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bator, P. 1982. “An Essay on the International Trade in Art.” Stanford Law Review 34: 275–384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beltrametti, S. 2013. “Museum Strategies: Leasing Antiquities.” Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts 36, no. 2: 203–60.Google Scholar
Beltrametti, S., and Marrone, J. V.. 2016. “Market Responses to Court Rulings: Evidence from Antiquities Auctions.” Journal of Law and Economics 59, no. 4: 913–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, J. 1991. “On the Grand Tour in 1771–1773.” Yale University Library Gazette 66, no. 1–2: 33–46.Google Scholar
Black, J. 1996. “Italy and the Grand Tour: The British Experience in the Eighteenth Century. Annali d’Italianistica 14: 532–41.Google Scholar
Black, J. 2011. The British and the Grand Tour. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Borodkin, L. 1995. “The Economics of Antiquities Looting and a Proposed Legal Alternative.” Columbia Law Review 95: 377–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodie, N. 2014a. “Auction Houses and the Antiquities Trade.” In International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property, edited by Choulia-Kapeloni, S., 71–82. Athens: Archaeological Receipts Fund.Google Scholar
Brodie, N. 2014b. “Provenance and Price: Autoregulation of the Antiquities Market?” European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 20: 426–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brodie, N., and Renfrew, C.. 2005. “Looting and the World’s Archaeological Heritage: The Inadequate Response.” Annual Review Anthropology 34: 343–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannon-Brookes, P. 1994. “Antiquities in the Market-Place: Placing a Price on Documentation.” Antiquity 68: 349–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, J. 2005. “The Rise and Fall of Mistake in the English Law of Contract.” In Mistake, Fraud and Duties to Inform in European Contract Law: The Common Core of European Private Law, edited by R. Sefton-Green, 65–86. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casadio, F., and Duyne, R. P. Van. 2013. “Molecular Analysis for Art, Archaeometry and Conservation.” The Analyst 138, no. 24: 7276–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cuní, J. 2016. “What Do We Know of Roman Wall Painting Technique? Potential Confounding Factors in Ancient Paint Media Analysis.” Heritage Science 4, no. 1: 44–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMatteo, L., and Hogg, M.. 2016. Comparative Contract Law: British and American Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Efrat, A. 2009. “Protecting against Plunder: The United States and the International Efforts against Looting of Antiquities,” Cornell Law Faculty Working Paper no. 2-19-2009.Google Scholar
Feigenbaum, G., and Reist, I.. 2013. Provenance: An Alternate History of Art. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute.Google Scholar
Felch, J., and Frammolino, R.. 2011. Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
Feller, R. L. 1994. Accelerated Aging: Photochemical and Thermal Aspects. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute.Google Scholar
Gerstenblith, P. 2008. Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gerstenblith, P. 2013a. “Has the Market in Antiquities Changed in Light of Recent Legal Developments?” In The Futures of Our Pasts: Ethical Implications of Collecting Antiquities in the Twenty-first Century, edited by Adler, M. A. and Bruning, S. B., 67–84. Santa Fe, NM: School for Advanced Research Press.Google Scholar
Gerstenblith, P. 2013b. “The Meaning of 1970 for the Acquisition of Archaeological Objects.” Journal of Field Archaeology 38, no. 4: 364–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, D. 2009. “Looting Matters for Classical Antiquities: Contemporary Issues in Archaeological Ethics.” Present Pasts 1: 77–104.Google Scholar
Gill, D. 2014. “The Case of the Ka Nefer Nefer Mummy Mask.” Journal of Art Crime 12: 13–25.Google Scholar
Gill, D., and Chippindale, C. 2006. “From Malibu to Rome: Reflections on Returning Antiquities.” International Journal of Cultural Property 13, no. 3: 311–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goyder, J. 1992. “Free Movement of Cultural Goods and European Community Law.” International Journal of Cultural Property 1: 219–26.Google Scholar
Harvey, B., and Meisel, F. 2006. Auctions Law and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hatt, M., and Klonk, C.. 2006. Art History: A Critical Introduction to Its Methods. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Institute, T. G. C. 1988. MARBLE: Art Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Ancient Sculpture. Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum.Google Scholar
Museum, J. Paul Getty, Goulandré, H. N. P., and Technés, M. K.. 1993. The Getty Kouros Colloquium: Athens, 25–27 May 1992. Athens: Kapon Editions.Google Scholar
Kuniholm, P. I. 2002. “Archaeological Dendrochronology.” Dendrochronoloaia 20, no. 1–2: 62–68.Google Scholar
Lacy, G. S. 2011. “Standardizing Warhol: Antitrust Liability for Denying the Authenticity of Artwork.” Washington Journal of Law, Technology and Arts 6: 185–216.Google Scholar
Lapatin, K. D. S. 2000. “Proof?: The Case of the Getty Kouros.” Source: Notes in the History of Art, Special Issue on Forgeries of Ancient Art 20, no. 1: 43–53.Google Scholar
Leona, M. 2009. “The Materiality of Art: Scientific Research in Art History and Art Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum.” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 67, no. 1: 4–11.Google Scholar
Leventhal, R. M., and Daniels, B. I.. 2013. “Orphaned Objects, Ethical Standards, and the Acquisition of Antiquities.” DePaul Journal of Art, Technology and Intellectural Property Law 23: 339–61.Google Scholar
Levine, J. A. 2009. “The Importance of Provenance Documentation in the Market for Ancient Art and Artifacts: The Future of the Market May Depend on Documenting the Past. DePaul Journal of Art, Technology and Intellectual Property Law 19, no. 2: 219–33.Google Scholar
Lobay, G. 2009. “Border Controls in Market Countries As Disincentives to Antiquities Looting at Source? The US–Italy Bilateral Agreement 2001.” In Criminology and Archaeology: Studies in Looted Antiquities, edited by S. Mackenzie and P. Green, 59–80. Oxford: Hart.Google Scholar
Marrone, J. V. 2018. “Quantifying the Supply Chain for Near Eastern Antiquities in Times of War and Conflict.” Journal of Cultural Heritage 33: 278–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAndrew, C. 2019. The Art Market 2019. Basel: Art Basel and UBS.Google Scholar
McKendrick, E. 1992. “Auctioneers, ‘Sleepers’ and Actions in Negligence.” International Journal of Cultural Property 1, no. 1: 207–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meisel, F. 2010. “Auctioneers and Misdescription: Between Scylla and Charybdis.” Modern Law Review 73, no. 6: 1036–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merryman, J. H. 2005. “Cultural Property Internationalism.” International Journal of Cultural Property 12: 11 –39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merryman, J. H. 2007. “The Good Faith Acquisition of Stolen Art.” Olin Working Paper no. 364.Google Scholar
Merryman, J., Elsen, A., and Ulrice, S.. 2007. Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International.Google Scholar
Nafziger, J. 1982. “The New International Legal Framework for the Return, Restitution or Forfeiture of Cultural Property. New York University Journal of International Law and Policy 15: 789–812.Google Scholar
Nancy Yeide, A. W., and Akinsha, K. 2001. The AAM Guide to Provenance Research. Washington, DC: American Alliance of Museums.Google Scholar
O’Keefe, P. J. 2000. Commentary on the UNESCO 1970 Convention on Illicit Traffic. Builth Wells, UK: Institute of Art and Law.Google Scholar
Pearlstein, W. G. 2005. “Cultural Property, Congress, the Courts, and Customs: The Decline and Fall of the Antiquities Market? In Who Owns the Past? Cultural Policy, Cultural Property, and the Law, edited by Fitz-Gibbon, K., 9–32. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Peel, E., and Treitel, G. H.. 2015. The Law of Contract. Toronto: Carswell.Google Scholar
Phillips, D. 1997. Exhibiting Authenticity. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Prott, L. V., and O’Keefe, P. J. 1988. Handbook of National Regulations Concerning the Export of Cultural Property. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.Google Scholar
Rasmusen, E., and Ayres, I. 1993. “Mutual and Unilateral Mistake in Contract Law.” Journal of Legal Studies 22: 309–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, L. 2008. An Art Provenance Research Guide for the Researcher and Librarian: A List of Resources (unpublished).Google Scholar
Ridley, R. T., and Ridley, R. T. 1992. The Eagle and the Spade: Archaeology in Rome during the Napoleonic Era. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Salway, P. 1982. Roman Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Siddall, R. 2018. “Mineral Pigments in Archaeology: Their Analysis and the Range of Available Materials.” Minerals 8, no. 5: 201–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spencer, R. D. 2010. “Buyers’ Rescission Rights for High Value Art Purchases: Spreading the Risk. Spencer’s Art Law Journal 1, no. 3, http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/spencer/spencers-art-law-journal-3-11-11.asp#rspencer (accessed 14 February 2020).Google Scholar
Taylor, R., and Bar-Yosef, O.. 2014. Radiocarbon Dating: An Archaeological Perspective. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Thompson, E. L. 2016. Possession: The Curious History of Private Collectors from Antiquity to the Present. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Vadi, V., and Schneider, H. E.. 2014. Art, Cultural Heritage and the Market: Ethical and Legal Issues. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, P., and Todeschini, C.. 2006. The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities—From Italy’s Tomb Raiders to the World’s Greatest Museums. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar