The Return of the Sacred? In a historic moment for cultural heritage management, the Wellcome Collection in London announced a commitment to return over 2,000 rare Jain manuscripts to the global Jain community. Believed to be the largest collection of Jain manuscripts held outside South Asia, the texts span four centuries, from the 15th to the 19th century. Written in Prakrit, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Rajasthani, and early Hindi scripts, the archive covers a vast expanse of […]
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Inside the dim, glass-walled galleries of the Musée du Quai Branly, the ghosts of the French empire are kept at a meticulous relative humidity of 50%. For decades, these objects, including carved ancestral figures from Gabon, royal sceptres from Dahomey, and reliquaries from Madagascar, existed in a state of ‘suspended animation’. They were protected by a legal doctrine as unyielding as the museum’s reinforced glass: inaliénabilité. Rooted in the 1566 Edict of Moulins, which sought to […]
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The professional lexicon of art lawyers and museologists has historically focused on the portable and the tangible. For the longest time, the curatorial mission centred on coins, jewellery, and paintings—objects that could be catalogued, insured, and secured behind glass. Our legal frameworks were designed to protect the “object” as a static witness to human history. However, as global warming and rapid deforestation alter the physical reality of our planet, the definition of cultural property is […]
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The acquisition of art has been romanticized as a pursuit of the soul, an aesthetic dialogue between the collector and the creator. However, for those of us who spend their time engaged in law, art is also an asset class. The recent taxation of the gains from the sale of a Pumpkin sculptor held as part of a collector’s private collection as business income, has sent a tremor through the collecting community. The core of […]
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Specialty Museums in India Museums have long been regarded as the custodians of a history’s essence. In India, multiple layers of cultural and social development have occurred over millennia, meaning that the traditional museum format cannot possibly accommodate for the unique, niche and often underrepresented side of history sometimes out of sheer paucity of space. This led to the birth of specialty museums that dive deep into those niche narratives and stories. However, budget constraints […]
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The paradox of the modern Canadian museum is as frustrating as it is pervasive. We live in an era where high-resolution imagery and instant connectivity are the default modes of human interaction. Yet, if you attempt to browse the digital archives of many of Canada’s prominent public galleries and museums, you will likely find the experience disappointing. Vast swaths of the national artistic heritage remain locked away, inaccessible to the public via digital platforms. While […]
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The Art Institute of Chicago recently announced a sweeping set of acquisitions that reads like a high-end grocery list for the soul. From the modernist sharp edges of Christian Schad to the architectural provocations of Amanda Williams, the museum is clearly in a “treat yourself” phase. However, tucked away in the press release, amidst the celebration of local legend Richard Hunt’s monumental sculpture, sits a rare 17th-century textile: ‘A Nayaka Nobleman with Courtiers and Courtesans.’ While the […]
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In a world where cultural heritage is often a casualty of political upheaval, a rare piece of ancient history has finally made its journey home. On February 5, 2026, the Dutch government officially returned a 3,500-year-old stone sculpture to Egypt, concluding a decade-long saga of theft, international investigation, and diplomatic cooperation. The artefact, a beautifully carved stone head made of granodiorite, depicts a high-ranking official from the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BCE). This […]
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In the high-stakes world of fine art, the difference between a masterpiece and a “mister-piece” of deception can be worth millions. For a long time, the legal system in Greece has treated art forgers a bit like mischievous schoolboys—giving them a slap on the wrist and a fine that amounted to little more than a “cost of doing business”. But as of January 2026, following the enactment of Law 5221/2025 and recent amendments to the Greek Penal Code, […]
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In the world of high-fashion and even higher-stakes real estate, few addresses carry the ghosts of art history quite like 57 Great Jones Street. Once the studio of Jean-Michel Basquiat and owned by Andy Warhol, the building is practically a temple of creativity. So, when Angelina Jolie took over the space for her new creative venture, Atelier Jolie, it felt like the perfect passing of the torch. But as it turns out, even having an Oscar […]
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