Italy stops the auction of 17 archaeological pieces claimed by Mexico

Mesoamerican clay pots offered at auction in Italy.Government of Mexico

The Italian authorities have suspended the auction of 17 archaeological pieces that the Mexican Government claims.

The bid was held on September 16 through the Bertolami Fine Ars house, based in Rome.

The Foreign Ministry has informed that the pieces are under protection and will be examined by the Italian police to confirm that they are objects obtained illegally.

The Mexican government has requested that the pieces be returned when the investigations are complete.

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In the auction house catalog, the pieces were already assigned to people who offered up to 400 euros - almost 10,000 pesos - for the pieces.

Among them were vessels, clay pots, anthropomorphic figures of Mesoamerican cultures from various regions of western Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico.

The 12 lots offered by the Italian auctioneer reached 2,000 euros (about 50,000 pesos) in total value among bidders.

The jewel in the collection is a tripod clay bowl in good condition with paint, belonging to the Tarascan culture of Michoacán and made in the post-classic period between 1200 and 1521 AD There are also effigy pots belonging to shaft tombs - a style of burial from western Mexico— from the State of Jalisco that were manufactured in the classic Mesoamerican period between 200 and 900 AD

Details of a tripod bowl from Michoacán that was being offered at auction in Italy.

Italy returned 23 archaeological pieces to Mexico in May that were also part of various Mesoamerican cultures.

The Mexican Government has undertaken this 2021, in which the 500 years of the Conquest are celebrated, a crusade to obtain the restitution of the archaeological heritage found in other countries, mainly in Europe.

“We will maintain a frontal fight against the trafficking of cultural property;

The sale of these pieces, under Mexican law, constitutes a crime, and we will make it known wherever it is intended to profit from our heritage ”, said the Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto in a statement.

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