Hattian Golden Ewer
Object or Group Name
Hattian Golden Ewer
Case Summary
Sir Arthur Gilbert (1913–2001) was a British-born American real estate developer, art collector, and philanthropist who assembled an extensive collection of British and European decorative arts, many of which had previously belonged to some of history’s most distinguished figures.
In 1989, Gilbert acquired an Anatolian gold ewer from a Los Angeles–based antiquities dealer. The vessel, created by a Hattian goldsmith approximately 4,250 years ago in Türkiye (c. 2500–2000 BCE), is believed to have been produced as a funerary object intended to accompany a Hattian ruler into the afterlife. Incorporated into the Gilbert Collection, it remained there for some time as the collection’s sole antiquity.
In 1995, Gilbert transferred his collection to the United Kingdom and established the Gilbert Trust for the Arts, which subsequently arranged for it to be placed on long-term loan at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
In 2018, however, the Trust initiated a major provenance research project and appointed Jacques Schumacher to the first provenance curatorial position of its kind in the UK. The investigation of the ewer revealed that Gilbert had unknowingly acquired the ewer from a dealer who was aware of its problematic provenance but had failed to disclose this information at the time of sale.
Subsequent research revealed that this Los Angeles antiquities dealer was Bruce McNall, who had been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to five counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and bank fraud in December 1994. McNall, who had long worked with antiquities trafficker Robert Hecht, claimed to have acquired the ewer from Hecht's Zurich-based restorer Fritz Burki. Burki worked closely with -- and often as a cut out for -- Hecht and his Italian supplier Giacomo Medici, whose infamous operation in the illicit trade of antiquities was thought to be "one of the largest and most sophisticated antiquities networks in the world."
The Trust shared its findings with the Turkish Ministry of Culture, whose specialists concluded that the ewer had been illegally excavated and exported during the mid- to late twentieth century. Scientific analysis of the metal composition, together with stylistic assessment, indicated that the vessel most likely originated from archaeological excavations at Alacahöyük or Mahmatlar in north central Türkiye.
In October 2021, the Gilbert Trust formally transferred the ewer to the Turkish Ministry of Culture, who placed it in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
In 1989, Gilbert acquired an Anatolian gold ewer from a Los Angeles–based antiquities dealer. The vessel, created by a Hattian goldsmith approximately 4,250 years ago in Türkiye (c. 2500–2000 BCE), is believed to have been produced as a funerary object intended to accompany a Hattian ruler into the afterlife. Incorporated into the Gilbert Collection, it remained there for some time as the collection’s sole antiquity.
In 1995, Gilbert transferred his collection to the United Kingdom and established the Gilbert Trust for the Arts, which subsequently arranged for it to be placed on long-term loan at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
In 2018, however, the Trust initiated a major provenance research project and appointed Jacques Schumacher to the first provenance curatorial position of its kind in the UK. The investigation of the ewer revealed that Gilbert had unknowingly acquired the ewer from a dealer who was aware of its problematic provenance but had failed to disclose this information at the time of sale.
Subsequent research revealed that this Los Angeles antiquities dealer was Bruce McNall, who had been sentenced to 70 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to five counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and bank fraud in December 1994. McNall, who had long worked with antiquities trafficker Robert Hecht, claimed to have acquired the ewer from Hecht's Zurich-based restorer Fritz Burki. Burki worked closely with -- and often as a cut out for -- Hecht and his Italian supplier Giacomo Medici, whose infamous operation in the illicit trade of antiquities was thought to be "one of the largest and most sophisticated antiquities networks in the world."
The Trust shared its findings with the Turkish Ministry of Culture, whose specialists concluded that the ewer had been illegally excavated and exported during the mid- to late twentieth century. Scientific analysis of the metal composition, together with stylistic assessment, indicated that the vessel most likely originated from archaeological excavations at Alacahöyük or Mahmatlar in north central Türkiye.
In October 2021, the Gilbert Trust formally transferred the ewer to the Turkish Ministry of Culture, who placed it in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.
Number of Objects
1
Object Type
Vessel – pots, amphorae, vases, kraters
Culture
Hattian, Hatti Civilisation of Anatolia
Private Collector
Sir Arthur Gilbert
Museum Name
Victoria and Albert Museum
Receiving Country
Türkiye
Sources
Images
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection
MOLA Contributor(s)
Simon Dade
Peer Reviewed By
Lisa Duffy-Zeballos
Citation
“Hattian Golden Ewer,” Museum of Looted Antiquities, accessed September 7, 2026, https://mola.omeka.net/items/show/3222.