Chasing Aphrodite

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Antiquities and Collectibles Are in Murky Tariff Territory. How the Industry Is Coping. - Barron's barrons.com/articles/antiq…

Can AI help stop the sale of looted antiquities? At the AI+ Expo hackathon, C4ADS built a tool to detect looted Sudanese artifacts on platforms like eBay—using image matching and OpenAI’s reasoning engine to flag listed items and protect cultural heritage in conflict zones.

Case of the Day: The ornate and highly significant early Buddhist sculpture, Footsteps of the Buddha (Buddhapada) was smuggled out of Pakistan's Swat Valley in 1982. (1/4)

New #PeoplingPodcast alert! Today, we are joined by Roberta Mazza to discuss the antiquities trade in both the past and the present, the ethics behind papyrology, and the illicit papyrus trade in academia. Listen in to “Fragments and Falsehoods” here: peoplingthepast.com/2025/05/06/pod…

WTF: Art Institute of Chicago director James Rondeau is under investigation after getting intoxicated and removing his clothes on a flight to Munich on April 18. He is now on leave and his job in jeopardy as the museum investigates the incident.

Court Halts Schiele Restitution Order for Art Institute of Chicago—For Now news.artnet.com/art-world/emer…

#BringOurGodsHome thehindu.com/news/national/… What it doesn't say ... @sanjeevsanyal @ARCA_artcrime

Congrats to @KathleenDuval for her Pulitzer Prize in history. Well deserved!

“This was not the outcome anyone wanted” Boston MFA’s promised collection of Benin bronzes will be returned to Robert Owen Lehman Jr., the wealthy scion and collector, rather than the people from whom they were stolen. nytimes.com/2025/04/25/art…

Case of the Day: This c. 10th century sandstone statue of the monkey god Hanuman was returned to Cambodia's Koh Ker temple complex in 2015, after provenance research and the discovery of an in situ pedestal confirmed that it had been looted in 1968. (1/2)

This morning at Sotheby’s, next to a manuscript folio I know well (right on pic). During my PhD, I tracked its scattered leaves across Paris, St Petersburg, the Vatican.. Five years of studying this fragment that comes from the ‘Amr Mosque, and its origins still remain a mystery

L.A. pawn shop owner accused of trying to sell stolen Andy Warhol art, worth $175,000 latimes.com/california/sto…

And for many, these art-backed loans are blowing up on them, leading to litigation

Greek police arrested 6 suspected antiquities smugglers after a massive undercover operation on the island of Crete where they seized and recovered over 40 ancient artifacts the smuggling ring had been allegedly trying to sell on the black market. greekreporter.com/2025/04/24/gre…

I absolutely hate anonymous museum loans. But even when private individuals are known, it ‘museum washes’ a lot of dodgy stuff. Still, this is a gorgeous piece that we unfortunately know next to nothing about. No provenance, no academic analysis. 📸 me

Once again @MinOfCultureGoI After is ok.... But how about how m before chasingaphrodite.com/tag/kushan-bud…

I’m strangely fascinated by the blinginginess of Trump’s Oval Office. What does it mean? Here’s an art historical take. 🧵 1/

Success truly has many fathers @MinOfCultureGoI Wonder when you will learn to .. @ChasingAphrodit

My first column for @NatGeo is about the supposed city underneath the pyramids. With enormous thanks to @FlintDibble for all his help. Shoutouts to @indyfromspace, Milo Rossi and Zahi Hawass @TourismandAntiq nationalgeographic.com/history/articl… @PTRBirmingham @news_ub