Leonard Stern Collection of Cycladic Antiquities
Object or Group Name
Leonard Stern Collection of Cycladic Antiquities
Case Summary
In 2024 the Leonard N. Stern Collection of Cycladic Antiquities was placed on long-term loan with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as the result of a novel repatriation agreement with the Greek government, which agreed to loan the material to the Met in exchange for title to the objects and an agreement for related research and exhibits.
The collection, consisting of 161 marble figures and stone vessels from the Early Bronze Age (3200BCE-2000BCE), was formed by the American billionaire collector between 1983 and 2020. It has raised a series of questions relating to when and how the objects left Greece, their association with named (and documented) private collections, and their authenticity.
Not one of the figure or stone vessels comes from a scientifically excavated context. This suggests that if the pieces are genuine they may have left Greece in recent years without the appropriate export permits. The first piece to be acquired, an Early Spedos female figure, has been identified in the photographic archive of the Italian antiquities trafficker Gianfranco Becchina by Christos Tsirogiannis. Five figures in the Stern collection have also been associated with the haul of fragmentary Cycladic figures that were looted from Keros, probably in the early 1960s.
Around 20 of the figures in the Stern Collection are known, or are reported to have been known, before the benchmark year of 1970, the date of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property. For example, one of the figures was placed on loan at the Antikensammlung in Basel by Christoph Bernoulli, the then owner, in 1966. Two figures were sold to private collectors by J.J. Kleiman of New York in 1959 and 1960. Just because the figures were known before 1970 does not mean that they were not looted or that they are necessarily genuine (as forgeries appear to have been produced from at least the 1930s and possibly before).
Most of the Stern figures were purchased through the antiquities market. The most prominent dealers supplying items were Robin Symes, the Merrin Gallery, Robert Haber and Associates, and the Safani Gallery. Several of the Stern figures were exhibited in the exhibition, “Masterpieces of Cycladic Art,” at the Merrin Gallery (1989). Other galleries and dealers included Royal-Athena Galleries, Phoenix Ancient Art, Harry Bürki, Galerie Heidi Vollmoeller, and Michael Ward. Most of these galleries and individuals have been associated with other types of objects that have been returned to Greece, Italy, and Türkiye.
Some of the material in the Stern Collection has been known for decades. Six of the figures were exhibited in “Art and Culture of the Cyclades” at the Badischeslandesmuseum in Karlsruhe (1976): three were then part of two anonymous Swiss private collections, and one formed part of the stock of a Zurich-based dealer. Others appeared in “Cycladic Art in North American Collections” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond (1987) as part of named and anonymous north American collectors including Christos Bastis and the Woodner family collection. A chlorite “hut” pyxis from the collection was exhibited in “Ancient Art of the Cyclades” at the Katonah Museum of Art (2006).
When part of the Stern collection was displayed in Athens at the Museum of Cycladic Art in 2022, Christos Doumas raised concerns that 4 or 5 of the 10 figures selected for the exhibition were modern creations. He drew particular attention to a Late Neolithic figure that other scholars felt belonged to a type that had not yet been recognized. Among the other suspicious pieces is a Transitional Early Cycladic I–II figure. Although it was said to have been on the Athens market prior to World War II, it was derived from the same source as the Cycladic harp-player, considered by some to be a modern creation, that was acquired by the Met in 1947.
Many of the marble figures in the Stern collection have been attributed by Pat Getz-Preziosi / Getz-Gentle to anonymous sculptors; the figures appear as belonging to Harmon Fine Art (or Harmon F.A.). In some cases, none of the figures attributed to a specific sculptor are derived from secure archaeological contexts, raising the possibility that the groups of pieces may in fact be modern creations. For example, one of Stern’s figures, previously in the Rodgers Collection, is attributed to the Rodgers Sculptor. It came from the same anonymous dealer as a second figure attributed to the sculptor now in an anonymous north American private collection; they had both appeared on the market three years apart. Both were “encrusted with similar hard deposits.”
A third figure, now in the Museum of Cycladic Art, is reported to have a “possible” findspot of Koufonisia, though Getz-Gentle records the piece as “find-place unknown.” A second sculptor with limited attributions is known as the Karlsruhe/Woodner Sculptor. The Stern figure, formerly in the Woodner Collection, is attributed to the same sculptor as a figure once in Karlsruhe but now returned to Greece (2014); both figures are on the large side (86.3 cm and 88.8 cm in length). A third figure (1.49 m in length) also attributed to the same sculptor and said to have been found in a cave on Keros is now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. In addition, 28 pieces from the Stern Collection feature in Getz-Gentle’s study of Cycladic stone vessels.
A statement by Lisa Mendoni, the Greek minister, claimed that “none of the objects in the Stern collection is identified with objects included in the archives of stolen, illicitly removed good maintained by the Directorate.” This overlooks the figure identified from the Becchina archive, as well as the pieces listed as part of the Keros Haul. For these reasons the Association of Greek Archaeologists considered that the Stern Collection should have been returned to Greece immediately, rather than be displayed at a prestigious venue in New York.
The Stern Collection raises concerns in three key areas. First, has it been formed from material that has been removed from archaeological contexts in an unscientific way thereby losing vital information? Second, has material that has been derived from such insecure sources been removed from Greece without permission? Third, how much of the material has been created in recent decades? Such issues are key as they illustrate the material and intellectual consequences of collecting: physical destruction and irretrievable loss of knowledge.
To resolve questions about the Met accepting the donation of a contested collection, the objects were donated to a Delaware non-profit, the Hellenic Ancient Culture Institute (HACI), established in June 2022 for the transaction. This prepared the way for the Greek Parliament to endorse the loan from HACI to the Met in September 2022. The loan itself will not be reviewed until 2049 when the collection can be returned to Greece or the loan be extended for a further 25 years.
The novel repatriation/loan agreement that resolved the dispute over the collection was approved by the Greek Parliament, which faced criticism from some archaeologists concerned about the collection’s origins. Stern also agreed to endow an archive room and research position at the Met, calling the agreement a model for future repatriation efforts.
The collection, consisting of 161 marble figures and stone vessels from the Early Bronze Age (3200BCE-2000BCE), was formed by the American billionaire collector between 1983 and 2020. It has raised a series of questions relating to when and how the objects left Greece, their association with named (and documented) private collections, and their authenticity.
Not one of the figure or stone vessels comes from a scientifically excavated context. This suggests that if the pieces are genuine they may have left Greece in recent years without the appropriate export permits. The first piece to be acquired, an Early Spedos female figure, has been identified in the photographic archive of the Italian antiquities trafficker Gianfranco Becchina by Christos Tsirogiannis. Five figures in the Stern collection have also been associated with the haul of fragmentary Cycladic figures that were looted from Keros, probably in the early 1960s.
Around 20 of the figures in the Stern Collection are known, or are reported to have been known, before the benchmark year of 1970, the date of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Cultural Property. For example, one of the figures was placed on loan at the Antikensammlung in Basel by Christoph Bernoulli, the then owner, in 1966. Two figures were sold to private collectors by J.J. Kleiman of New York in 1959 and 1960. Just because the figures were known before 1970 does not mean that they were not looted or that they are necessarily genuine (as forgeries appear to have been produced from at least the 1930s and possibly before).
Most of the Stern figures were purchased through the antiquities market. The most prominent dealers supplying items were Robin Symes, the Merrin Gallery, Robert Haber and Associates, and the Safani Gallery. Several of the Stern figures were exhibited in the exhibition, “Masterpieces of Cycladic Art,” at the Merrin Gallery (1989). Other galleries and dealers included Royal-Athena Galleries, Phoenix Ancient Art, Harry Bürki, Galerie Heidi Vollmoeller, and Michael Ward. Most of these galleries and individuals have been associated with other types of objects that have been returned to Greece, Italy, and Türkiye.
Some of the material in the Stern Collection has been known for decades. Six of the figures were exhibited in “Art and Culture of the Cyclades” at the Badischeslandesmuseum in Karlsruhe (1976): three were then part of two anonymous Swiss private collections, and one formed part of the stock of a Zurich-based dealer. Others appeared in “Cycladic Art in North American Collections” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond (1987) as part of named and anonymous north American collectors including Christos Bastis and the Woodner family collection. A chlorite “hut” pyxis from the collection was exhibited in “Ancient Art of the Cyclades” at the Katonah Museum of Art (2006).
When part of the Stern collection was displayed in Athens at the Museum of Cycladic Art in 2022, Christos Doumas raised concerns that 4 or 5 of the 10 figures selected for the exhibition were modern creations. He drew particular attention to a Late Neolithic figure that other scholars felt belonged to a type that had not yet been recognized. Among the other suspicious pieces is a Transitional Early Cycladic I–II figure. Although it was said to have been on the Athens market prior to World War II, it was derived from the same source as the Cycladic harp-player, considered by some to be a modern creation, that was acquired by the Met in 1947.
Many of the marble figures in the Stern collection have been attributed by Pat Getz-Preziosi / Getz-Gentle to anonymous sculptors; the figures appear as belonging to Harmon Fine Art (or Harmon F.A.). In some cases, none of the figures attributed to a specific sculptor are derived from secure archaeological contexts, raising the possibility that the groups of pieces may in fact be modern creations. For example, one of Stern’s figures, previously in the Rodgers Collection, is attributed to the Rodgers Sculptor. It came from the same anonymous dealer as a second figure attributed to the sculptor now in an anonymous north American private collection; they had both appeared on the market three years apart. Both were “encrusted with similar hard deposits.”
A third figure, now in the Museum of Cycladic Art, is reported to have a “possible” findspot of Koufonisia, though Getz-Gentle records the piece as “find-place unknown.” A second sculptor with limited attributions is known as the Karlsruhe/Woodner Sculptor. The Stern figure, formerly in the Woodner Collection, is attributed to the same sculptor as a figure once in Karlsruhe but now returned to Greece (2014); both figures are on the large side (86.3 cm and 88.8 cm in length). A third figure (1.49 m in length) also attributed to the same sculptor and said to have been found in a cave on Keros is now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. In addition, 28 pieces from the Stern Collection feature in Getz-Gentle’s study of Cycladic stone vessels.
A statement by Lisa Mendoni, the Greek minister, claimed that “none of the objects in the Stern collection is identified with objects included in the archives of stolen, illicitly removed good maintained by the Directorate.” This overlooks the figure identified from the Becchina archive, as well as the pieces listed as part of the Keros Haul. For these reasons the Association of Greek Archaeologists considered that the Stern Collection should have been returned to Greece immediately, rather than be displayed at a prestigious venue in New York.
The Stern Collection raises concerns in three key areas. First, has it been formed from material that has been removed from archaeological contexts in an unscientific way thereby losing vital information? Second, has material that has been derived from such insecure sources been removed from Greece without permission? Third, how much of the material has been created in recent decades? Such issues are key as they illustrate the material and intellectual consequences of collecting: physical destruction and irretrievable loss of knowledge.
To resolve questions about the Met accepting the donation of a contested collection, the objects were donated to a Delaware non-profit, the Hellenic Ancient Culture Institute (HACI), established in June 2022 for the transaction. This prepared the way for the Greek Parliament to endorse the loan from HACI to the Met in September 2022. The loan itself will not be reviewed until 2049 when the collection can be returned to Greece or the loan be extended for a further 25 years.
The novel repatriation/loan agreement that resolved the dispute over the collection was approved by the Greek Parliament, which faced criticism from some archaeologists concerned about the collection’s origins. Stern also agreed to endow an archive room and research position at the Met, calling the agreement a model for future repatriation efforts.
Number of Objects
161
Object Type
Sculpture – statues, carvings, bronzes, reliefs, figurines
Culture
Cycladic
Private Collector
Leonard N. Stern
Christoph Bernoulli
Christos Bastis
Woodner family collection
Museum Name
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Receiving Country
Greece
Sources
Anon. 2022. “The Greek Deal with Businessman Leonard Stern and The Met for Large Cycladic Art Collection Looks Like a Mess.” Art News November 4, 2022.
Fappas, I. D. 2022. Homecoming: Cycladic Treasures on their Return Journey. Athens: Museum of Cycladic Art.
Getz-Gentle, P. 1996. Stone Vessels of the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
Getz-Gentle, P. 2001. Personal Styles in Early Cycladic Sculpture. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Getz-Preziosi, P. 1987. Sculptors of the Cyclades: Individual and Tradition in the Third Millennium BC. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Getz-Preziosi, P. 1987. Early Cycladic Art in North American Collections. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Gill, D. W. J., and C. Tsirogiannis. 2025. “The Stern Collection of Cycladic Figures and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Mediterranean Archaeology 38: in press.
Hemingway, S. 2024. Cycladic Art: The Leonard N. Stern Collection on Loan from the Hellenic Republic. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Moynihan, C. 2022. “Leonard Stern’s Cycladic Art Will Be Shown at the Met but Owned by Greece.” New York Times October 11, 2022.
Tsirogiannis, C., D. W. J. Gill, and C. Chippindale. 2025. “A Corrupt Cycladic Corpus of Marble Figures.” Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies 13: 203–33.
Images
MOLA Contributor(s)
Prof. David Gill
Peer Reviewed By
Jason Felch
Citation
“Leonard Stern Collection of Cycladic Antiquities,” Museum of Looted Antiquities, accessed April 18, 2026, https://mola.omeka.net/items/show/2851.