Who Owns the Guennol Stargazer?
How a Turkish work of art from the 3rd millennium B.C.E. ended up in the Southern District of New York
1990: "The Lydian Hoard"
Republic of Turkey v. Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Turkish authorities were determined to recover the Lydian Hoard, rumored to have been acquired by the Met in the 1960s. In 1985, Turkish officials were alerted by Turkish journalist, Özgen Acar that the pieces exhibited at the Met closely resembled the Lydian Hoard, but were labeled “East Greek Treasure.”
Ali Riza Durak/Associated Press
When Turkish authorities determined that the objects in the Met’s collection had probably been taken illegally from Turkey, they attempted to work out an amicable settlement but their offer was rejected. Turkey commenced legal proceedings in New York courts asserting the artifacts were illicitly excavated from burial mounds and exported to the United States. It claimed that Turkish law vested ownership in the State of all artifacts found in Turkey and that the Met intentionally concealed the illicit origin of the objects.
In 1990, The Met’s motion to dismiss was denied, and they resolved the dispute out-of-court.
The settlement was arguably prompted by the prospect of Turkey’s likely success at trial due to existing incriminating evidence and the upcoming testimony of museum officials.
Turkey's efforts to recover the Lydian Hoard set the stage for the present-day case to recover the Guennol Stargazer.
Present day: “The Guennol Star Gazer”
Republic of Turkey v. Christie's Inc., 2019
The Guennol Stargazer, Christies.com
One of only fifteen of these figures known to be in existence, the Guennol Stargazer dates to 3,000 B.C.E. and holds striking similarities to the Kiliya-type figurines.
The figure is believed to have been illegally excavated and smuggled out of Turkey in the early 1960s, eventually landing in the John J. Klejman gallery where it was sold in 1961 to Alastair Bradley Martin and his wife, Edith. The couple used the Welsh name ‘Guennol’ to identify their collection.
In 1993, billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt bought the figure and consigned it to Christie’s. The figure was to be placed on auction April 28, 2017, labeled in the catalogue as an “iconic work of art from the 3rd millennium BC.”
This case was scheduled to proceed to a bench trial on April 27, 2020; however, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the trial was postponed.
Open letter from the Turkish Ministry of Culture published in the New York Times the day after the Stargazer was sold at auction.
The court held that the 1906 decree would have made Turkey the rightful owner of the Stargazer, if Turkey could prove by preponderance of the evidence that the Stargazer was discovered in modern-day Turkey after 1906.
“Although the Idol was undoubtedly manufactured in what is now modern-day Turkey, the Court cannot conclude based on the trial record that it was excavated from Turkey after 1906” - Judge Alison J. Nathan
With so little evidence of where the Stargazer was between 3,000 BCE and 1961 CE, Turkey was unable to prove by preponderance of the evidence that the Stargazer was discovered in modern-day Turkey after 1906. As a result, the court ruled in favor of the defendant.
Though the Stargazer now belongs to the defendant, Michael Steinhardt, the court’s recognition of the 1906 Ottoman decree as vesting ownership of antiquities in the state of modern Turkey is a positive conclusion for future claims on looted antiquities.
To read the ruling, please click here .
