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Lawfulness and Ethics around Cultural Property Auctions: The Case of the Barbier-Mueller Pre-Columbian Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2020

Zara Ruiz Romero
Zara Ruiz Romero*
Affiliation:
Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In March 2013, the Barbier-Mueller collection of pre-Columbian art was auctioned at Sotheby’s Paris. This event ended with the sale of half of the works offered and generated a confrontation between six of the countries of origin of the artifacts, which were absolutely opposed to the sale, and the Sothebys’ Parisian branch. This article, taking the case described above as a reference, intends to analyze the ethical considerations and lawfulness implied in the buying and selling of cultural property at auction. With this purpose in mind, the arguments held by both parties in this disagreement are analyzed. At the same time, the efficacy of national laws, international conventions, and regulations is considered, mainly with reference to the use of principles and ethical codes that seem to be applied when the law has no jurisdiction.

Type
Article
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , August 2020 , pp. 397 - 416
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This article is part of the R&D+I Project: Ruins, Looting and Interventions for Cultural Heritage (No. UPO-1264180), funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the Andalusian Regional Department of Economy, Knowledge, Enterprises and University, of the Andalusian Regional Government, within the Andalusia ERDF 2014-20 Operational Programme (Specific Objective 1.2.3: promotion and generation of border knowledge and knowledge directed to the challenges of society, and the development of emerging technologies, funding percentage 80 percent). Thanks to Donna Yates for her support and useful advice and ideas during the elaboration of this article and to Luis Pérez-Prat for his relevant and required corrections.

References

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