UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION TO PROCESS CLAIM CONCERNING RENOWNED ISLAMIC ART COLLECTION
Press Release
IK/210
UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION TO PROCESS CLAIM CONCERNING RENOWNED ISLAMIC ART COLLECTION
19961213 GENEVA, 12 December (UN Information Service) -- With the prospect of soon being able to make its first substantial payments, the United Nations Compensation Commission is beginning to process a large and unique claim related to a collection of Islamic art that largely disappeared during Iraq's occupation of Kuwait.The collection, belonging to renowned Kuwaiti collector Jasim Y. Homaizi, was considered in Islamic art circles as one of the most prestigious in the world. Following the invasion, many of its most precious pieces ended up in Baghdad and Amman, where dealers have sought to smuggle them to western cities. Mr. Homaizi alerted the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and Scotland Yard in time and hired private detectives to follow illicit transactions involving collection pieces. He also brought the attempted smuggling operations to the attention of such widely known auction firms as Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips, which led to the arrest of several clandestine sellers and to the recovery of several pieces.
The United Nations Compensation Commission submitted the claim concerning the collection to the Panel of Commissioners resolving category "D" claims (individual losses above $100,000). The Panel will be assisted by an Islamic art expert in the verification and evaluation of those pieces in the collection still to be recovered, which are worth over $30 million. The most prominent pieces appear in a number of art catalogues. The Organizing Committee of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta chose one of the most beautiful pieces, a fourteenth century Iznik porcelain dish, to represent Islamic art in "Rings", an exhibit that ran during the Summer Games.
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