Roman Sculpture
Just last week, the U.S. Government filed a suit seeking the forfeiture of an “illegally imported” statue, which is currently being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection; it has been in their possession since it was imported to the country in 2016. The interesting part of the story is that while Kim Kardashian is listed as the importer on the official paperwork, she completely denies having purchased the work or even knowing about the sculpture – a representative for Kardashian insinuated that “it may have been purchased using her name without authorization.”
Either way, the U.S. government had two professors of archeology, as well as an archaeologist from Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage examine the work – all concluded that the sculpture fragment (it is only the lower half of a sculpture) dated between 6th Century BCE to 4th Century CE. Further, the Italian archeologist “opined that the defendant statue was looted, smuggled and illegally exported from Italy.”
While Kardashian, her trust (who is listed on the import document), and Axel Vervoordt (the gallery that sold the sculpture) are not listed directly in the lawsuit, it does note that “their interests may be ‘adversely affected by these proceedings.'” Vervoordt vehemently disputes that the work was looted, claiming they acquired it in good faith, and further that there is no evidence that the piece was illegally imported from Italy.
All that said, it seems fairly certain this artifact will not land in the hands of Kim K, and will be headed back to Italy sooner than later.
Source: U.S. Government Seeks Roman Statue Allegedly Headed to Kim Kardashian – ARTnews.com