He Ministry of Culture and Sports published a statement on July 5 in which it reports that a mask of Mayan origin and belonging to the Guatemala’s heritage es sold in a auction house in LondonEngland.
The authorities detailed that the Sotheby’s auction houses has the event Master Sculpture From Four Milleniain which “ is soldillegally” a mask of mosaic of jade, shell and obsidian.
According to them, the procedures to present a formal complaint before the auction house, following a technical analysis issued by the Department of Cultural and Colonial Property Registration.
That study determined that the mask It originates in the Lowlands, PeténGuatemala, for which reason a request was submitted through the Embassy in the United Kingdom to have the archaeological piece.
“Regrettably, Sotheby’s decided to proceed with the sale despite our objections, arguing that the piece had a documented history that supposedly supports his legitimate departure from Guatemalabefore the entry into force of certain international laws and conventions,” details Culture.
The Government of Guatemala reported that rejected the position y He stated that there is evidence that the exploitation of the country’s cultural assets was forbidden before the acquisition of the piece in the international market.
“The piece was looted from Guatemala which makes it proceeds of illicit traffickingprobably before the 1970s“, Culture said.
He also indicated that “the 1970 UNESCO Convention, ratified by Guatemala in 1985, does not alter rights and property Over the Guatemalan cultural assetsregardless of their current location.”
According to the Culture publication, Sothby’s “failed to comply with ethical standards by failing to adequately disclose the mask’s source of origin in the auction catalogue, despite having full knowledge from its origin.”
The actions undertaken by Guatemala include: will report the facts to the Secretariat of the 1970 UNESCO Convention and is will request your pronouncement so that the auction house “complies with international regulations.”
Guatemala also makes a Call to the international community to increase the fight once morest illicit trafficking of archaeological objects.
Images of the mask
Photographs of the Guatemalan jade mask, taken from the sothebys.com website.
As it became known, the mask was sold in 456 thousand pounds sterlingequivalent to Q4 million 535 thousand.
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