The Medici Conspiracy

by Peter Watson

  • A red-figure Attic kylix attributed by Robert Guy to the Nikosthenes Painter. Sold to the Fleischmans by Robin Symes in 1988 and acquired by the Getty from them.

  • A Pontic amphora by the Tityos Painter. Sold to the Fleischmans by Bürki in 1988 and acquired by the Getty from them.

  • A red-figure Attic amphora, allegedly from the Rycroft Collection in England (1890), yet shown in the Polaroids seized in Geneva.

  • A terra-cotta askos of the Clusium group, shaped like a duck. Donated to the Getty by Vasek Polak of Canada, this allegedly came from the S. Schweitzer Collection, dating from 1940. It too appears among the seized Polaroids in Geneva. Clusium, the modern city of Chiusi, near Arezzo in Umbria, was named after Clusius, son of Tyrrhenos, one of the mythical founders of Etruria.

  • An Attic Gianiform kantharos attributed to the Vatican Class. This was purchased by the Getty from the Royal Athena Galleries in New York.

  Antiquities in the Fleischman Collection That Are Pictured in the Polaroids Seized in Corridor 17 in Geneva

  • A red-figure Apulian bell-krater, bought from Fritz Bürki.

  • A marble statue of Tyche, acquired in this instance, according to the documentation, from Robin Symes. The heavily draped female figure is identified as Tyche by her turreted crown, which probably also identified the city she was meant to protect. Once again, this statue is depicted in the photographs seized in Geneva, where it is shown before it had been cleaned of the dirt that was encrusted on it. It was an important object, purchased by the museum from the Fleischmans for $2 million. In antiquity the Greek word tyche, meaning chance or fortune, with its inherent mutability, applied to both men and cities. The great centers of Antioch and Alexandria both established cults to the goddess Tyche, but smaller towns would have worshipped her, too.

  • A Roman fresco, a lunette showing a mask of Hercules and valued at $95,000, was acquired by the Fleischmans from Bürki. On this occasion, however, the fresco was associated with Medici not because of any photographs, but because, in dimensions, subject matter, and condition, in Ferri’s words, it “would appear to be a twin to another fresco” seized in Geneva from Medici. In the catalog of the Passion for Antiquities exhibition, in relation to catalog number 126, the text reads: “The superb illusionism of Second-Style Roman wall painting is brilliantly in evidence in this fragment from the upper zone of a Pompeian wall.” It goes on: “The upper portion of the fresco matches precisely the upper portion of a fresco section in the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection . . . and is from the same room as catalogue number 125.”

  • Catalog number 125 was another fresco fragment, consisting of two rectangular panels and showing landscape scenes bathed in a light blue-green hue. The text says that based on the right-to-left orientation of the shadows on the columns, “this was part of the right-hand wall upon entering the room.” These two items recall the frescoes from the Pompeian villa that Pellegrini first encountered when delving into Medici’s documentation—they too were of the Second Style (see entry just above).

  • There was even more of a paper trail in connection with a black-figure Attic amphora attributed by Dietrich von Bothmer to the Berlin Painter 1686 and dated to circa 540 BC. (This painter is called the “Berlin Painter 1686” because his name vase is also in the Berlin Museum and the “1686” refers to the museum acquisition number, to distinguish him from another Berlin Painter, whose name vase is in the same museum.) Depicted on both sides of the vase is one of the twelve labors of Hercules, one of which is the theft of the cattle of Geryon, the triple-bodied warrior, and the legend after which the original investigation of Conforti’s Art Squad was named.This object appears in the Polaroid photos seized in Geneva, on one of which the following words are visible: “OK con Bo 14/2/91. TUTTA MIA” (“OK with Bo 14/2/91. ALL MINE”). “Bo” here stands for Bob Hecht, as is confirmed by the fact that this amphora featured in Hecht’s Atlantis Antiquities catalog, entitled Greek and Etruscan Art of the Archaic Period, published in New York in 1988. Other documentation confirms that this piece was reassembled by Fritz Bürki in 1988. The amphora, valued at $275,000, was then acquired by the Getty with the Fleischman Collection.

  • No less revealing was another black-figure amphora attributed by von Bothmer to the Three Lines Group (a group whose distinguishing characteristic was a motif of three short lines). This amphora can be seen in numerous regular photographs and Polaroids seized from Medici in Geneva. It was offered to the Getty by the Fleischmans, having been sold to them by Fritz Bürki in June 1989. From other documentation, we find that “RG” (Robert Guy) said that this object had been “found together with” another object with gigantomachia (the revolt of the Giants against the Gods, and their consequent slaughter, a familiar theme in classical and Hellenistic art) that was still in the possession of “REH” (Robert Emmanuel Hecht), and a third vase, a hydria of the Würzburg painter, “still in the possession of” Robin Symes. How did Guy know this? Here, plainly, more triangulations are in operation, or in the process of beginning. This is a clear sighting of the cordata.

  • A separate vase, a red-figure Attic kylix, attributed by Robert Guy to the Nikosthenes Painter, is also seen in the Polaroids seized in Geneva; it then became part of the Fleischman Collection, sold to them through Symes in 1988.

  • In the same Polaroid as the Attic kylix was a Pontic amphora by the Tityos Painter, seen with prominent encrustations but also in another photograph after it has been restored. This amphora, dated to 530–510 BC and showing the scenes of Medusa’s death, reached the Fleischmans through Bürki in 1988, valued at $400,000. It was acquired by the Getty with the kylix.

  • A red-figure Apulian bell-krater was seen in the Medici Polaroids. By the time it reached the Fleischmans, it had been attributed (by A. D. [Dale] Trendall) to the Choregos Painter and dated to circa 380 B.C. This was different from the other vases in that it was a “comic” vase. Rather than depicting a scene from everyday life or from mythology, it showed a scene from a phylax play, a type of farcical comedy that was widely performed in southern Italy during the fourth and third centuries BC. The action takes place on a wooden stage, with the grain of the wood being indicated. At stage-left there is a door and steps lead down off the boards. There are a number of characters on the stage itself, two indicated by an inscription that describes them as “choregos.” This meaning is not certain. It could mean “leaders of the chorus,” but they could also be “backers of the play.” The krater was important because of its rarity and because it was more or less complete. It has been published several times in important reference works on Greek vases. In fact this was the name-vase for the Choregos Painter, meaning it was the object used—by Trendall—to name this artist, whose work is known from a few other examples around the world. The Fleischmans acquired the krater from Fritz Bürki and when the Getty bought it, the vase was valued at $185,000, yet another example of the fact that Medici dealt not in everyday dross but in very important objects. Did the Fleischmans never ask themselves where Fritz Bürki and Robin Symes got these objects?

  • The same pattern is also evident with a small statue of Dionysus, accompanied by an animal. It formed part of the Fleischman Collection and, again, is depicted in the photographs seized in Geneva.

  Antiquities in the Levy-White Collection Shown in the Polaroids Seized in Corridor 17 in Geneva

  • A small kouros statue in bronze, published on page 106, number 87 of the Levy-White catalog. “This appears in three Polaroid photos and in about ten [regular] photographs in which the small bronze clearly appears still dirty with earth.”

  • A Calcidian amphora, number 102 in the catalog, published on page 134, also appears among many seized photographs, where it is shown before proper restoration, with many gaps between the fragments.

  • A Panathenaic amphora, attributed to the Louvre Painter F6,ar number 104 in the Levy-White catalog, appears in a Polaroid in one of the albums Medici kept. In the Polaroids, the amphora is broken and
dirty with earth. In two other photographs, in a second album, it is shown as restored. Pellegrini also traced this amphora as being put up for sale at Sotheby’s in London, on July 17, 1985, Lot 313.

  • A black-figure Attic amphora attributed to the Bucci Painter (540–530 BC) was number 106 in the Levy-White Collection. This too appears in the seized photographs, and it too was sold at Sotheby’s in London, this time on December 9, 1985—the very sale that Brian Cook of the British Museum had warned Peter Watson about. This is actually the vase that the British Museum would have bid for, had it had a proper provenance.

  • Another black-figure Attic amphora, this time attributed to the Medea Painter Group and dated to 520 BC, number 107 in the Levy-White Collection, is depicted in four seized Polaroid photographs.

  • A whole series of seized photographs show dozens of fragments appertaining to a psykter, “an important black-figure object,” published by von Bothmer in the catalog of the Levy-White Collection, page 149. The object in the seized photographs is completely fragmented and pictured on a kitchen tablecloth. In the Levy-White catalog it is of course totally restored but, as is evident from the motifs, it is undoubtedly the same object.

  • A chalice-krater attributed to the Eucharides Painter (490–480 BC), showing Zeus, Ganymede, Hercules, and Iolaos, with an Etruscan inscription under the foot. This, number 117 in the Levy-White Collection, appears in fragments in the seized photographs.

  • Pellegrini’s report draws particular attention to two Caeretan hydrie (water storage vases from Cerveteri). It is especially interesting that these two vases were used to explain an article in the journal Greek Vases in the J. Paul Getty Museum (vol. 6 [2000]). The two vases in the Levy-White Collection were very distinctive—one showed a panther and a lioness attacking a mule, and the other showed Ulysses and his companions fleeing from Polyphemus’s cavern (Polyphemus was the one-eyed giant in Homer’s Odyssey who refused hospitality to Ulysses and his companions). Both these vases were shown in the seized photographs, where they are both broken and in fragments, with sizable gaps. In this case, however, the photographs also consisted of a number of enlargements, showing the fragments close up. What struck Pellegrini was that in the Getty article, discussing their construction and so forth, various drawings of the vases were used, and these show the vases with the original break lines as revealed in the seized photographs. In other words, Peggy Sanders, who made these drawings, must have seen the vases either in the stages of restoration, or she must have seen the photographs that were eventually seized.Also, in connection with at least one of these vases, the seized documentation included correspondence between the Levy-Whites (in fact the curator of their collection) and a Dutch authority on Greek vases, Professor Jaap M. Hemelrijk, of Wanneperveen in Holland. Professor Hemelrijk was interested in publishing the hydrie and in the course of his letter asked if he might include the photos (which, from his phrasing, he had obviously seen) “taken before restoration of the vase.” Alongside this, someone has written in hand: “Aboutaam?” The date on this letter is May 16, 1995, just over a year after the Phoenix Fine Art invoice to the Levy-Whites. In other words, it was obvious to everyone that these hydrie had only recently been put together.

  Maurizio Pellegrini’s List of Objects Seized in Corridor 17 in Geneva That Had Been “Laundered” Through Sotheby’s in London

  1. A terra-cotta head, sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on March 2, 1990, number 44 on the consignment note. This was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1012763 and was Lot 344 in the company’s antiquities sales on May 31, 1990. It was sold on that day for £550.

  2. A Nolan amphora, originally sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on March 2, 1990, was number 24 on the consignment note. This was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1012763 and was Lot 125 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when it sold for £6,000.

  3. An Apulian “mascheroni” krater (with two protomi, one of Medea) was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 3, 1991, number 1 on the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1037837 and was Lot 161 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when it sold for £11,000.

  4. A Gnathian-style hydria was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 13, 1989, number 25 on the consignment note. This was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1002611 and was Lot 295 in its antiquities sale of December 8, 1994, when it sold for £1,200. (This was the object that first alerted Pellegrini to the laundering process.)

  5. Four Apulian terra-cotta vases were sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on March 2, 1990, numbers 51 and 57 on the consignment note. They were taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1012763, and were Lot 319 in its antiquities sale of December 8, 1994, when they sold for £1,100.

  6. Two Apulian terra-cotta vases were sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on March 2, 1990, numbers 10 and 36 on the consignment note. They were taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1012673 and were Lot 317 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when they sold for £600.

  7. A marble torso was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on April 24, 1990, number 43 on the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1016305 and was Lot 287 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when it sold for £2,000.

  8. An Etruscan Corinthian alabastron was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on March 2, 1990, number 43 on the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1012763 and was Lot 350 in its sale of antiquities held on May 31, 1990, when it sold for £950.

  9. An impasto biconic vase was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on April 24, 1990, number 9 on the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1002611 and was Lot 498 in its antiquities sale held on July 9, 1990, when it sold for £1,700.

  10. A marble statue was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 13, 1989, numbers 35–37 on the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1002611 and was Lot 480 in its antiquities sale held on July 9, 1990, when it sold for £1,400.

  11. An Apulian oinochoe was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 5, 1990, number 56 on the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1023190 and was Lot 300 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when it sold for £2,200.

  12. A terra-cotta head was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 13, 1989, number 50 in the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1002611 and was Lot 100 in its antiquities sale held on December 11, 1989, when it sold for £2,200.

  13. Four Teano ceramic vases were sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 3, 1991, number 12 on the consignment note. They were taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1037837 and were Lot 312 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when they sold for £2,400.

  14. Two terra-cotta heads were sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 5, 1990, number 20 on the consignment note. They were taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1023190 and were Lot 235 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when they sold for £1,400.

  15. A red-figure Attic kylix was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on March 2, 1990, number 17 on the consignment note. It was taken in by Sotheby’s with the property number 1012763 and was Lot 228 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when it sold for £1,800.

  16. An Apulian ceramic thymiaterion (candelabrum) was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 5, 1990, number 47 on the consignment note. It was taken into Sotheby’s with the property number 1023190 and was Lot 313 in its antiquities sale held on December 8, 1994, when it sold for £750.

  17. A black-figure Attic kylix was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on April 24, 1990, number 17 on the consignment note. It was taken into Sotheby’s with the property nu
mber 1016305 and was Lot 271 in its sale of antiquities held on December 8, 1994, when it sold for £1,100.

  18. A black-figure Attic oinochoe was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on April 24, 1990, number 37 on the consignment note. It was taken into Sotheby’s with the property number 1016305 and was Lot 232 in its sale of antiquities held on July 9, 1990, when it sold for £4,200.

  19. Two Apulian vases and a bronze were sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services on September 3, 1991, number 16 in the consignment note. They were taken into Sotheby’s with the property number 1037837 and comprised Lot 305 in its antiquities sale of December 8, 1994, when they sold for £1,500.

  20. A black-figure Attic amphora was sent to Sotheby’s by Editions Services. It was taken into Sotheby’s under the account number 216521 and was Lot 283 in its antiquities sale held on December 14, 1987, when it sold for £17,000.

  NOTES

  Prologue

  1 The Met had already incurred the wrath of many archaeologists because, at more or less the same time, the museum had announced it was selling off—“de-accessioning,” in the jargon—a collection of very rare ancient coins. These coins, about 11,000 of them, had been on loan to the American Numismatic Society, where for several decades they had formed a library for historians of art and architecture. For example, the coins were embossed with the only surviving portrayals of many ancient temples, rulers, and rites, and their dates offered important corroboration for historical events. However, for Thomas Hoving, the buccaneering director of the Met, and for Dietrich von Bothmer, the curator in the Greek and Roman Department, a magnificent vase was a much more desirable (“sexy”) object to display in the museum. The sale of the coins would help defray the cost of buying the krater.