Provenance Information

J.J. Lally & Co., New York, NY (1999); Mrs. Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2004-2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The object qualifies for this exception as it is a gift or bequest to the museum stated prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. This figure is a typical representation of Han dynasty funeral tomb figures that reflect the customs of elite culture in the region of today’s Sichuan province.

Provenance Information

Fortuna Fine Arts, Ltd., New York, NY, sold to Barbara S. Robinson (2003); Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2003–2023), gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

An exception to 1970 can be made for this object because it was expected as a gift or bequest prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. The head adds to the CMA collection of Roman marble idealized sculpture.

Provenance Information

Sotheby’s New York, lot 317, Unsold (December 10, 1999); Swiss Private Collection (by 2000); F.A.C. Kunsthandel (Wolfgang Wilhelm), Frankfurt, Germany, sold to Barbara S. Robinson (2007); Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2007-2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

Sotheby’s New York, Antiquities and Islamic Works of Art, lot 317 (December 10, 1999).

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

An exception to 1970 can be made for this object because it was expected as a gift or bequest prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. This is the first Roman silver bowl in the CMA, and only the second Roman silver vessel.

Provenance Information

Private Russian Collection; F.A.C. Kunsthandel (Wolfgang Wilhelm), Frankfurt, Germany, sold to Barbara S. Robinson (2006); Mrs. Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2006–2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

An exception to 1970 can be made for this object because it was expected as a gift or bequest prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. It is an unusual type of ancient helmet, and only the second ancient helmet in the CMA collection.

Provenance Information

The Merrin Gallery, New York, NY (by 1998); sold to Mrs. Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (1998); Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (1998-2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

An exception to 1970 can be made for this object because it was expected as a gift or bequest prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. The object is an unusual type of bronze vessel not previously represented in the CMA collection.

Provenance Information

Holger von Grawert; F.A.C. Kunsthandel (Wolfgang Wilhelm), Frankfurt, Germany, sold to Mrs. Barbara S. Robinson (2005); Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2005-2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

An exception to 1970 can be made for this object because it was expected as a gift or bequest prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. The lamp constitutes a type of Roman luxury object not previously represented in the CMA collection.

Provenance Information

Oberingenieur Jakob Muller-Binder, Zurich, Switzerland, descended to Mr. Dennis Muller (Early 1960s to 1989); Mr. Dennis Muller, Switzerland (1989 to at least 1996); F.A.C. Kunsthandel (Wolfgang Wilhelm), Frankfurt, Germany, sold to Mrs. Barbara S. Robinson (2007); Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2007-2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

Long-term loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2020-2023.

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The 2007 invoice from F.A.C. Kunsthandel states that the plaque was acquired in the early 1960s, though without further details regarding place or vendor. More than 5000 plaques of this type, mostly fragmentary, are housed in the museums of Reggio Calabria and Locri in South Italy, primarily from excavations of the sanctuary of Persephone at Locri Epizephirii carried out in the early twentieth century. But numerous examples reached other museums and the art market prior to these excavations, and without evidence contrary to that stated on the 2007 invoice, an informed judgment can be made that this plaque was likely out of its country of modern discovery prior to 1970. In addition, an exception to 1970 can be made for this object because it was expected as a gift or bequest prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. This plaque is the only one of its type in the CMA collection.

Provenance Information

By 1981, with Dr. Leo Mildenberg (lived 1913-2001), Zurich, Switzerland; Christie’s London, 26 October 2004, lot 123, unsold (in the posthumous sale of the Mildenberg collection); Mrs. Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2004-2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Oct. 21 to Nov. 29, 1981); Ägypten: Augenblicke der Ewigkeit : unbekannte Schätze aus schweizer Privatbesitz, Musee D’Art d’Histoire, Geneva, Switzerland (September 1997 to January 1998) and Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, Switzerland (March to July 1997). The uraeus is also said to have been included in Mildenberg collection exhibitions in Israel (Haifa, Jerusalem), France (Paris), and Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Hamburg, Mannheim, Munich, Tubingen).

Publication Information

Kozloff, Arielle P. Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection. 1981. No. 15, p. 62.
Page-Gasser, Madeleine, and André Wiese. Égypte: moments d'éternité : art égyptien dans les collections privées, Suisse / Ägypten: Augenblicke der Ewigkeit : unbekannte Schätze aus schweizer Privatbesitz. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1997. no. 136, p. 211.
Mottahedeh, Patricia Erhart, and Gisela Zahlhaas. Out of Noah's ark: animals in ancient art from the Leo Mildenberg collection / Aus Noahs Arche : Tierbilder der Sammlung Mildenberg aus fünf Jahrtausenden. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1997. cat. 15.
Christie, Manson & Woods. A Peaceable Kingdom: The Leo Mildenberg Collection of Ancient Animals. London: Christie's, 2004. no. 123.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The object qualifies for the exception to 1970 for three reasons. First, it was in the well-known collection of Leo Mildenberg for at least two decades, during which time it was exhibited at the Cleveland Museum of Art as well as in Israel (Haifa, Jerusalem), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Hamburg, Mannheim, Munich, Tubingen), and Switzerland (Basel, Geneva). Second, during this time, it was included in numerous exhibition catalogues, from 1981 in Cleveland to 2004 at Christie’s in London. Finally, this object meets the exception as a gift or bequest expected prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. This constitutes the first separately made uraeus in the CMA collection, joining numerous representations of this important symbol of royal or divine power in ancient Egypt.

Provenance Information

Leon Pomerance, New York, probably mid-1960s to 1988; The Merrin Gallery, New York, 1988; William B. Ziff, Jr., New York, 1988 to 2019

Exhibition Information

Yale University Art Gallery, Weaving and the Social World, 3000 Years of Ancient Andean Textiles, May 20 to September 1, 2016

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The disk’s first reported owner, Leon Pomerance, died in 1988; a dated, redacted invoice in the museum’s files indicates that, in 1988, the Merrin Gallery sold the disk to a private collector. (This collector was probably William B. Ziff, Jr., since the disk appeared in a 2016 exhibition at Yale University based on Mr. Ziff’s collection.) The date on which Mr. Pomerance acquired the disk is unknown, but the period of probable acquisition can be inferred. Mr. Pomerance played a leadership role in the Archaeological Institute of America starting in the late 1960s—he served on the Institute’s board and as president of its New York chapter (Leon Pomerance Papers, University of Florida, http://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/pomerance.htm). Given the Institute’s strong stand on post-1970 collecting, Mr. Pomerance is unlikely to have acquired antiquities lacking a pre-1970 provenance after 1970. In addition, strong circumstantial evidence supports the conclusion that the disk left Peru before 1970. That is, the disk probably belongs to a large group of metal objects that includes approximately 25 similar silver repousse disks; the group, discovered on Peru’s north coast, is described by Alan Lapiner in his book Pre-Columbian Art of South America (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1976, note 600, p. 447). At least 41 other objects attributed to the group are now in public collections; of them, 36 were acquired in the mid to late 1960s, with one outlier in 1970. Acquisition dates of the remaining 5 require further research but it is likely that they, too, were originally sold in the 1960s, based on the dealers through whose hands they passed or other evidence. Ancient Andean metalsmiths created one of the world’s most distinguished traditions in silver and gold. The museum’s holdings so far include no exhibition-worthy examples of the Chimú accomplishment in metal. Thus, the disk will fill a significant gap and allow the museum to represent Chimú art more completely to the public.

Provenance Information

probably Alan Lapiner, New York City, before 1970; Justin Kerr, New York City, probably before 1970

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Justin Kerr, a professional photographer and the immediate past owner, has confirmed the tunic was in his collection by at least 1975, when he and his late wife moved from one home to another, but he does not recall when or from whom he acquired it. He further confirms that Brigga (Brigitte) Lapiner, deceased, mounted the tunic; that in the 1960s he occasionally worked with Mrs. Lapiner’s husband, Alan Lapiner, a well-known Pre-Columbian dealer who died on February 3, 1975; and that during this period he acquired several objects from Mr. Lapiner. According to Mr. Kerr, there are only two people still alive who might recall having seen the tunic at his home in the early days. Both state that the tunic was displayed at the Kerr residence for many years but they do not remember the dates on which they first saw it. One adds that, according to his memory, he saw the tunic in Mr. Lapiner’s gallery in the late 1960s and that Mrs. Lapiner had stopped treating textiles in about 1970 in order to care for the Lapiners’ children. Taken together, these statements suggest that Mr. Kerr obtained the tunic before 1970 from Mr. Lapiner.

Ancient Andean weavers created one of the world’s most distinguished textile traditions, and the Chancay corpus forms an important chapter in that history. The museum’s exhibition-worthy Chancay holdings comprise only one other garment—a tie-dyed head cloth made of plain weave. This fine tunic, woven in the tapestry technique, will allow the museum to present to the public a more complete picture of Chancay garment types, weaving structures, and imagery. It also instantiates a major event in ancient Andean history since it represents a recently defined subtype that probably post-dates the Inca conquest of Chancay territory.