Mexican authorities urge Sotheby’s to stop sale of two pre-Columbian artefacts

Mexico’s government urged Sotheby’s New York to withdraw two pre-Columbian objects from its Art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas sale scheduled for 18 June, saying analyses by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) determined they are part of Mexico’s national cultural heritage. Culture secretary Claudia Curiel de Icaza said Mexico had already taken unspecified “necessary actions” to demand withdrawal and restitution. One object is a Teotihuacán stone mask dated around AD 450–650, estimated at $30,000–$50,000, with provenance linked to dealer Everett Rassiga and later collectors William B. Jaffe and Evelyn Annenberg Jaffe Hall. The other is a Veracruz-region ceramic figure dated around AD 550–950, estimated at $5,000–$7,000, with a collecting history that includes Robert and Marianne Huber and later the New York gallery Ancient Art of the New World, also associated with Rassiga. The case reflects Mexico’s broader recent efforts to challenge overseas sales of pre-Columbian artefacts, which have rarely resulted in restitution.

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