Why Do So Many Museums Hold a Convicted Antiquity Dealer’s Treasures?
Hyperallergic reports that the Metropolitan Museum of Art repatriated a 2nd-century CE marble Roman portrait bust to the Republic of Türkiye in February after it was seized by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The bust had been purchased from Phoenix Ancient Art, a gallery associated with antiquities dealer Ali Aboutaam (born 1965), and its removal raised questions about other objects sold by the gallery to US museums. The DA’s office told the reporter it has seized nine Phoenix-linked artifacts from The Met since 2021, valued at nearly $5 million, including three that were loans. The article recounts Aboutaam’s background in his family’s Beirut antiquities business, the impact of Lebanon’s 1988 export ban, and earlier Canadian seizures of mosaic panels linked to his company Hermes Numismatique, which were repatriated in 1999. Phoenix Ancient Art did not respond to a request for comment.
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This story was covered in Repatriation Shockwaves and Museum Ethics on Trial