German court orders return of ancient vessel to Iraq
A German court has upheld Iraqi claims over a miniature gold vessel that for the past three years has been at the centre of a tangled dispute involving a Munich auction house, German customs, the Iraqi embassy in Berlin, an archaeologist, and a museum of classical antiquities.
The case, which has focused attention on the sale of smuggled Iraqi artifacts in Germany, began late in 2004 when the slightly dented six-centimetre-high gold vessel was included in a sale at Munich auction house Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, described as being of Mediterranean origin, possibly from Troy and dated to the Roman Iron-age period (1st century AD). However, the vessel was spotted by an unnamed expert who believed that it was in fact much older and of Sumerian origin.
The Iraqi embassy in Berlin was alerted and subsequently instigated proceedings against the auction house claiming breach of legislation prohibiting the sale of antiquities smuggled out of Iraq. The vessel was confiscated by the Stuttgart Customs Investigations Office and on the basis of a court ruling was handed to Dr Michael Müeller-Karpe, an archaeologist at the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz, for expert research and identification.
Dr Müeller-Karpe, agreed that the piece was of Iraqi origin and indeed that it was a rare example of a Sumerian gold vessel, around 4,500 years old and possibly made for a child's doll house. He speculated that it was likely to have been illegally excavated from the royal cemetery at the much looted site of the ancient Sumerian capital of Ur on the Euphrates river.
Read entire article at The Art Newspaper
The case, which has focused attention on the sale of smuggled Iraqi artifacts in Germany, began late in 2004 when the slightly dented six-centimetre-high gold vessel was included in a sale at Munich auction house Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger, described as being of Mediterranean origin, possibly from Troy and dated to the Roman Iron-age period (1st century AD). However, the vessel was spotted by an unnamed expert who believed that it was in fact much older and of Sumerian origin.
The Iraqi embassy in Berlin was alerted and subsequently instigated proceedings against the auction house claiming breach of legislation prohibiting the sale of antiquities smuggled out of Iraq. The vessel was confiscated by the Stuttgart Customs Investigations Office and on the basis of a court ruling was handed to Dr Michael Müeller-Karpe, an archaeologist at the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz, for expert research and identification.
Dr Müeller-Karpe, agreed that the piece was of Iraqi origin and indeed that it was a rare example of a Sumerian gold vessel, around 4,500 years old and possibly made for a child's doll house. He speculated that it was likely to have been illegally excavated from the royal cemetery at the much looted site of the ancient Sumerian capital of Ur on the Euphrates river.