Latest news with #EuphroniosKrater

Boston Globe

At the Museum of Fine Arts, a chance for justice

For years, the institution was tangled in a complicated relationship with a private collector that made it difficult to do the right thing by a set of plundered masterworks from West Africa. But now that the relationship is unraveling, the museum can — and should — pursue a measure of justice. The story begins in 2012, when banking heir and filmmaker Robert Owen Lehman pledged 34 pieces to the MFA, with plans to formally enter them into the museum's collection on a staggered timetable. Most of the objects were crafted centuries ago in the Benin Kingdom, in what is now southern Nigeria. Collectively known as Benin Bronzes, the sculptural heads, plaques, and pendants are a wonder to behold. Advertisement But a colonial shadow has long hung over them. In 1897, after a group of British officials were killed in a trade dispute, Britain launched a so-called punitive expedition against the Benin Kingdom (not to be confused with the modern-day nation of Benin, which borders Nigeria). Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up The raiders looted thousands of objects from the royal palace. And the works were eventually auctioned off in London, landing in museums and private collections all over the world. In recent years, there has been a push for repatriation. The Smithsonian Advertisement The MFA seemed inclined to some kind of restitution of its own. But it was in a tricky position. It owned five of the bronzes outright — two commemorative heads, a pendant showing an oba (or king) and two dignitaries, a relief plaque showing two officials with raised swords, and a relief plaque showing a war chief with two attendants. But the balance were still on loan from Lehman. If the museum had decided to transfer ownership of some or all of its five objects to Nigeria, it risked rupturing its relationship with Lehman; there was a chance the collector would simply take back the 27 bronzes he still owned and remove them from public view. Better to aim, then, for some sort of global resolution for all the pieces. Last week, any hope for such a resolution seemed to come to an end. The MFA It's unclear what, exactly, happened. And it's a shame that some kind of agreement couldn't be reached: The moral case for transferring ownership of the Benin Kingdom's looted patrimony back to Nigeria is clear. There was potential for a creative resolution. The parties could have struck a deal that kept some or all of the bronzes on display in Boston; the plundered works now on display around the world have become cultural ambassadors for Nigeria. And perhaps the MFA could have loaned some objects to the African nation in return. There is precedent for this kind of exchange. In 2006, after decades of resistance, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York agreed to return a celebrated vase known as the Euphronios Krater to Italy in exchange for long-term loans of other antiquities. Advertisement A broad deal may be beyond reach at this point. But now that the museum has some distance from Lehman, it has an opportunity — and an obligation — to do what's right with the five pieces it owns outright. The MFA seems to be moving in the correct direction. Two of the museum's five pieces — one of the commemorative heads and the plaque showing two officials with raised swords — can be firmly traced back to the looting of 1897. And Victoria Reed, the institution's senior curator for provenance, told the Editorial Board that pieces like that would be 'appropriate candidates for restitution.' What that restitution looks like should ultimately be up to the Benin Kingdom, which still exists today as a ceremonial entity within the modern nation of Nigeria. But hopefully, any deal will involve continued display in Boston. The provenance of the museum's other three objects is murkier. But the MFA should continue learning what it can and, if appropriate, transfer ownership back to Nigeria. Justice, in this case, has been delayed for too long. Let it not be delayed much longer. Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us