Expert calls Christie's abandon the sale of antique statues with unclear provenance
ARTinvestment.RU   27 ноября 2019

Talking about the Roman marble statue of "Eros stringing his bow," the first century of our era. The stumbling block was the phrase "said to" ("allegedly") in the provenance

And again about how important provenance. Especially when buying old (even more ancient) art. Christie's not the first time is under fire in connection with the sale of antiquities. So, in 2014, they had to withdraw five items of dubious origin — and this, unfortunately, is not an isolated case in world practice and in the practice of the auction house.

this time the question was raised as to thing as much with the cover of the catalog — statue of Eros with an estimate of £500 000-800 000, top-лот London auction of ancient art 4 Dec. According to the provenance listed in the auction catalogue, this is a nearly meter high statue, "the property of a gentleman", was in the collection of the French historian Roger Perafita, where she reportedly went from "Prince of Antiques" Nicholas Landau in the late 1960-х years. Then, in 1986, the statue was moved into a private French collection.

However, according to Professor Hristo Tsirogiannis (Prof Christos Tsirogiannis), a respected expert, has long engaged in identifying antique items with a dark past on the art-рынке, this statue may be associated with the name of the infamous British dealer Robin symes, who was convicted for the illegal trade in ancient objects. Tsirogiannis also claims that he has four pictures of the statue, proving that it is from the possession of symes and his partner Michaelidis.

the Representative of the auction house, according to the publication of The Guardian, argues that the experts at home did not find sufficient grounds to remove the lot from the auction.

whatever Tsirogiannis poses a potential buyer of the lot the important question is whether the reputation of himself and of his collection, if the relationship of "Eros" with the symes will be proven, the same "said to" (said to) the provenance of the lot? And would be in the provenance of these words, if the auction house 100% would be confident in the origin of the lot?

Sources: theguardian.com; christies.com



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