Chasing Aphrodite
@ChasingAphrodit
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On the hunt for looted antiquities in the world's museums. Tweets by @jasonfelch also @ https://t.co/Novuvtf8uq
Los Angeles, CA
Joined May 2010
Follow us over at the other place, where we've now archived all our 9k tweets on art world muckraking and will prioritize going forward:
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This week the Italian authorities seized 21 suspected forgeries attributed to Salvador Dalí from a major monographic show titled “Dalí, Between Art and Myth” in the northern city of Parma.
artnews.com
The exhibition of 80 drawings, engravings, and tapestries opened at Palazzo Tarasconi on September 27
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Sam Knight reports on the turmoil inside Sotheby’s as the storied auction house contends with debt, layoffs, and culture shock brought on by its new owner, the telecommunications billionaire Patrick Drahi. https://t.co/aQqBg3Em1L
newyorker.com
Patrick Drahi made a fortune through debt-fuelled telecommunications companies. Now he’s bringing his methods to the art market.
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Anyone can watch the #CPACommittee open session. Find out how:
state.gov
First posted August 6, 2025 Updated September 2, 2025 The Cultural Property Advisory Committee will meet September 15-17, 2025 (90 FR 38196) to review a new request for a cultural property agreement...
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Promoting Cultural Heritage to Strengthen Syrian National Identity and Overcome Ethnic and Religious Fragmentation
opiniojuris.org
[Greta Ramelli is a legal officer at the Public International Law and Policy Group and a legal advisor at Hostage Italia Onlus. Dr Mohammed Alkhalid is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Sapienza University...
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Dalhousie's receipt for the Koh-i-Noor, dated 7th Dec 1849. Not controversial at all... "I have received this day from Dr. Login, into my personal possession for transmission to England, the Koh-i-Noor diamond, in the presence of the members of the Board of Administration, and
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First ones are always to be cherished #BringOurGodsHome
@ChasingAphrodit Retrieved Chola-era Ardhanarisvara sculpture to be on public display at Vriddachalam temple - The Hindu
thehindu.com
Stolen 1000-year-old Ardhanarisvara sculpture from Chola period recovered from an art gallery in Australia to be displayed at Vriddachalam Viruddhagireeswarar temple in Cuddalore district of Tamil...
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Can AI help stop the sale of looted antiquities? At the AI+ Expo hackathon, C4ADS built a tool to detect looted Sudanese artifacts on platforms like eBay—using image matching and OpenAI’s reasoning engine to flag listed items and protect cultural heritage in conflict zones.
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Case of the Day: The ornate and highly significant early Buddhist sculpture, Footsteps of the Buddha (Buddhapada) was smuggled out of Pakistan's Swat Valley in 1982. (1/4)
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New #PeoplingPodcast alert! Today, we are joined by Roberta Mazza to discuss the antiquities trade in both the past and the present, the ethics behind papyrology, and the illicit papyrus trade in academia. Listen in to “Fragments and Falsehoods” here: https://t.co/lzVC9PwXQF
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WTF: Art Institute of Chicago director James Rondeau is under investigation after getting intoxicated and removing his clothes on a flight to Munich on April 18. He is now on leave and his job in jeopardy as the museum investigates the incident.
Art Institute of Chicago Director on Leave Over Mid-Flight Incident
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Court Halts Schiele Restitution Order for Art Institute of Chicago—For Now https://t.co/ovRB443PaO
news.artnet.com
Judge grants emergency stay for Art Institute of Chicago as museum appeals order to restitute allegedly Nazi-looted Egon Schiele drawing.
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Congrats to @KathleenDuval for her Pulitzer Prize in history. Well deserved!
Map of native forced removals (from Kathleen Duval’s new book Native Nations)
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“This was not the outcome anyone wanted” Boston MFA’s promised collection of Benin bronzes will be returned to Robert Owen Lehman Jr., the wealthy scion and collector, rather than the people from whom they were stolen. https://t.co/TQ5qqfRL9N
nytimes.com
The royal leader of the Kingdom of Benin sought the return of artifacts displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The collector who owned them took them back instead.
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Case of the Day: This c. 10th century sandstone statue of the monkey god Hanuman was returned to Cambodia's Koh Ker temple complex in 2015, after provenance research and the discovery of an in situ pedestal confirmed that it had been looted in 1968. (1/2)
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This morning at Sotheby’s, next to a manuscript folio I know well (right on pic). During my PhD, I tracked its scattered leaves across Paris, St Petersburg, the Vatican.. Five years of studying this fragment that comes from the ‘Amr Mosque, and its origins still remain a mystery
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L.A. pawn shop owner accused of trying to sell stolen Andy Warhol art, worth $175,000
latimes.com
Glenn Steven Bednarsh is accused of knowingly buying a stolen Andy Warhol artwork valued at an estimated $175,000 and trying to sell it to an auction house.
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