1680039398 Mexico asks to stop Paris auction of 83 pre Hispanic pieces

Mexico asks to stop Paris auction of 83 pre-Hispanic pieces

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Screenshot of one of the pre-Hispanic pieces being auctioned in France.Screenshot of one of the pre-Hispanic pieces being auctioned in France. million

Mexico calls for a new auction of pre-Hispanic goods abroad to be halted. This Tuesday, the Ministry of Culture demanded that the Casa Millon in Paris suspend the sale of 83 pieces on April 3rd. The objects offered by the French company are anthropomorphic figures, vessels and axes that were found in European private collections but left Mexican territory years ago. The government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador launched an offensive to restore heritage abroad and has managed to recover more than 11,500 objects. However, auctions of archaeological goods in France – and also in other countries such as the United States – are not usually suspended because local legislation allows it.

Experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) examined “the characteristics of form, style, raw material, proportions, surface finish and state of preservation” of each of the pieces, according to a statement released by Mexican authorities, and found that “83 objects offered for sale are Mexican archaeological are monuments.” According to this analysis, the artifacts were made between 1200 B.C. and 1300 AD and their styles correspond to the Olmecs of the Gulf Coast, the Tlatilca of the Basin of Mexico, the Nopiloa of central Veracruz, those of Chupícuaro in the Bajío region, among others.

In Mexico, these types of objects are protected by the Federal Monuments and Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Zones Act of 1972, which stipulates that the pieces may not leave the territory without permission from the INAH. “[Su venta] It’s not only illegal, it’s immoral,” said Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto this Tuesday during the morning’s Intergovernmental Conference. However, the auctioned items are located abroad and their sale is governed by French law, which recognizes the owner of the property as the owner.

One of the pre-Hispanic masks to be auctioned in Paris.One of the pre-Hispanic masks to be auctioned in Paris. million

Although France and Mexico signed a “memorandum of understanding” in 2021 to “make the illicit trade in important pieces of Mexico’s historical and cultural heritage as difficult as possible,” auction houses have continued to encourage these sales because the law allows them to. It’s up to the companies, which are private companies, to stop them. An emblematic case was the case of the house of Binoche et Guiquello, which sounded the alarm in 2015 when the family of a collector turned up with a 400-kilo pre-Hispanic artefact that was dismantled into four parts. It turned out to be the Xoc bas-relief, a 3,000-year-old Olmec piece stolen 40 years earlier and brought back to Mexico after the announcement. But that wasn’t the constant. Every now and then a company announces the commercialization of heritage objects and makes millions.

The auction, announced for April 3, is detailed on the website of the Hotel Drouot in Paris, where the sale will take place, and on the website of the House of Millon. According to the French company, “several important pieces from major European private collections assembled in the 1970s” will be offered for sale. The provenance of the pieces is one of the aspects that archaeologists continue to question because it is difficult to trace how these objects left the areas of provenance. Often it was through looting or in the hands of scientists or explorers who took them out of the country when there were no laws in Mexico to protect them.

For example, one of the pieces in the House of Millon catalog is a figurine of a terracotta “mother earth goddess” standing naked with a crown on her head. According to the same description, the object was found between 1,150 and 700 BC. Manufactured by the Tlatilco culture. In the “Provenance” section, the company writes: “Former Yvon Collet collection, 1964. Acquired from Galerie Mermoz Paris, 2014.” The Samuel Dubiner collection included an Olmec vessel that has belonged to Galerie Mermoz since 2005; Stéphane Janssen had a small gray calcite model that came from Guerrero. The examples are repetitive and all lack precision as to how the pieces ended up in European collections.

“We encourage potential buyers to look at the art of the current cities. There are exceptional pieces that adorn perhaps the most luxurious homes in the world. Contemporary art in Mexico is also a force. Visit and see this art that is being made, there is a market there,” Frausto asked. The director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Diego Prieto, has also lamented that when heritage is plundered, it “loses most of its value” because it is no longer possible “to trace its origin, its association with cities, Cities, buildings” to recognize “: “They only become objects of curiosity”.

Since the beginning of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s six-year tenure, Mexico has recovered 11,505 pre-Hispanic items located abroad, the government reported on Tuesday. Much of this is thanks to the My Heritage is Not for Sale awareness campaign, which encourages the return of these cultural assets. This strategy has primarily allowed private individuals to relinquish artifacts in their possession. The last case was that of the Frenchwoman Marianne Fouchet, who donated three sums inherited from her father to the Mexican embassy in Paris.

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