Mexico calls for two sales of pre-Hispanic art to France to be canceled

The Mexican Embassy in France on Thursday asked for the “cancellation” of two pre-Hispanic art auctions scheduled for November. Diplomats cite the risk of Mexican heritage being sold there.

The sales concerned are “Archeology, Oriental Arts & Pre-Columbian Art”, organized by Artcurial, and “Pre-Columbian Art & Taino Masterworks from the Fiore Arts Collection”, set up by Christie’s. The events will be held respectively on November 2 and 10 in Paris.

#story #archeology #arts #Mexico #auction Mexico requests cancellation of two sales of pre-Hispanic art in Parishttps: //t.co/zxEnWIHtOB

– Evelyne Ferron (@EvelyneFerron) October 29, 2021

Objects estimated at several tens of thousands of euros

Artcurial will sell more than 40 pieces of Mixteca, Aztec, Tlatilco and Colima cultures, estimated between 200 and 10,000 euros. In its catalog, Christie’s exhibits objects more than 1,000 years old, such as an Olmec pendant estimated at at least 150,000 euros or a Teotihuacan mask, made 1,500 years ago, with a starting price of between 20,000 and 40,000 euros.

On October 22, Mexico City was already expressing its concern about this trade in its “national heritage”. The Mexican embassy judges that “the commercialization deprives these priceless objects of their cultural, historical and symbolic essence to turn them into goods” and that it “encourages transnational delinquency” and “looting,” said a statement.

The question of repatriation of heritage

In July, Mexico and France had signed a declaration of intent to strengthen their cooperation in the fight against the trafficking of cultural property. Asked Thursday, Unesco said it had “received a letter from Mexico at the start of the week expressing their concern”. The UN body is currently examining the illegality of the sale of 78 items by Christie’s.

In recent years, Mexico has sought to recover its historical heritage from the hands of private collectors. French law makes this repatriation complicated. In February, around thirty Aztec and Mayan objects were auctioned for just over 2.5 million euros in Paris, during a disputed sale.

On Monday, the fragment of an 8th-century Mayan stele that narrowly escaped an auction was handed over by a French collector to Guatemala, her country of origin. A similar request from Mexico was unsuccessful, as the works in question were not listed in its national heritage.