From 15 Cycladic figurines which are expected to arrive in October at Museum of Cycladic Art stands out – in our opinion – a marble figurine 19.5 cm high, belonging to the so-called “special forms”, figurative complexes and preserved in its entirety. As “K” wrote (01/09/2022)this is one of her rare “double figurines”. Stern Collection, where a smaller figure stands on the head of the figurine with arms crossed on its stomach. Fragments of “double figurines” already exist in the Museum of Cycladic Art and are believed to echo ancient Cycladic culture’s notions of birth and motherhood, as the figures, large and small, are female.

The figurines will arrive in Greece as part of an agreement between him Ministry of Culture and Sportsfrom Museum of Cycladic Art in Athensfrom Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and his Delaware Institute of Ancient Greek Culture, which was submitted yesterday to the Standing Committee on the Education of the Parliament and will be discussed on Monday, September 5th. The agreement, which will be ratified by law, provides for the gradual return to Greece of Leonard Stern’s private collection of 161 Cycladic antiquities and their exhibition at the MET in New York and in Greek museums. With the ratification of the agreement, the Greek state receives ownership of the collection, as well as cooperation and a special exhibition hall of the Cycladic culture at the American Museum.

Under the bill, the antiques currently in Mr. Stern’s possession will be transferred to MET by the end of the month. The 15 statuettes will then travel to Greece – via the newly established Institute of Ancient Greek Culture – for their world premiere at the Museum of Cycladic Art. When the exhibition closes in October 2023, the antiquities will return to America and join the rest of the collection.

The Stern Collection, now owned by the Greek State, will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it will remain for the next 25 years. In a special room that will be created in the museum, there will be an indication that the Stern collection is the property of the Museum of Cycladic Art, transferred to the MET and owned by the Greek state and the Ministry of the Interior.

With the ratification of the quadripartite agreement, ownership of the collection passes to the Greek state.

At MET until 2033

The entire collection (161 antiques) will be exhibited at the MET until 2033. From January 1, 2034, and every five years, 15 antiques will be returned to Greece each time, which we will see in Greek museums. The large figurine of the collection, 1.35 m high, is among the antiquities that will arrive in Greece in 2034. Accordingly, the Greek State will provide MET in New York with antiquities of the Cycladic culture from the collections of its museums (Cycladic Museum, etc.).

After 25 years (2049), the Greek state, according to the bill, can continue to lend to the MET for another 25 years or not. If the loan is not continued, all antiquities that will then be in the American Museum will return to Greece and will be on permanent display at the Museum of Cycladic Art and in Greek museums. However, the MET will be required to display 122 Greek antiquities in one room for 25 years.

The repatriation of antiquities through the “intermediary” institution in Delaware, which administratively controls the Museum of Cycladic Art, does not include their legal claims. This option, according to with information from “K”made other collectors think about choosing this path for the return of Greek antiquities.