An ancient idol drew a $12.7 million bid; Why Turkey failed to get it back

A small marble figure with its head tilted towards the sky became the subject of an international ownership dispute after attracting a $12.7 million bid at Christie's in New York. The sculpture, known as the Guennol Stargazer, was nearly 5,000 years old. Yet when Turkey tried to recover it, the legal battle turned on a much more recent question: why had the country waited so long to make its claim?

On March 8, 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the rejection of Turkey's claim against Christie's and collector Michael Steinhardt. According to the court’s judgment published on Justia,the appeals court upheld the ruling because Turkey had unreasonably delayed its claim, prejudicing the defendants.

The decision did not provide a complete account of how the object first left its place of origin. Instead, it turned on the evidence available and the timing of Turkey’s legal action. The decision left an unusual story at the intersection of ancient art, multimillion-dollar auctions and the modern legal system.

A small sculpture with a very long past

The Guennol Stargazer is a marble female figurine associated with the Kiliya type of sculpture from ancient Anatolia, in present-day Turkey. According to Christie’s 2017 description, the figurine dates to approximately 3000–2200 BC and stands about 22.9 centimetres tall.

Its nickname comes from the angle of its head, which tilts backwards as if looking towards the heavens. The simplified body and distinctive face make it markedly different from more naturalistic human sculptures.

Christie's described it as one of the finest and largest preserved examples of its type. The auction house also noted that the sculpture had been loaned to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art at various times between 1966 and 2007.

Its ancient history, however, remains incomplete. The appeals court’s March 8, 2023 judgment account states that there is no documented findspot, excavation date or excavator for the object. It is unclear when it first arrived in New York or how the art dealer who sold it in 1961 originally obtained it.

How a multimillion-dollar bid became part of a legal dispute

The sculpture entered the Guennol Collection of American collectors Alastair and Edith Martin. In 1961, they acquired it from New York art dealer J.J. Klejman, according to the court record.

The object later passed through other collections. In 1993, the Merrin Gallery sold it to Michael Steinhardt and his wife. The couple subsequently consigned it to Christie's for its 2017 Exceptional Sale.

The court judgment by Law Justiarecords a bid of $12.7 million, while Reuters in March 2023 reported that the auction figure was $14.5 million. The unidentified telephone buyer did not take possession of the sculpture, which remained with Christie's.

Turkey challenged the sale, arguing that the figurine had been unlawfully excavated and removed from its territory. The country relied on an Ottoman decree from 1906 that it said gave it ownership rights over antiquities found within its borders.

Why the court rejected Turkey's claim

Turkey filed its lawsuit in April 2017. A US district court ruled against the country in September 2021, after an eight-day trial.

In March 2023, the Second Circuit upheld the judgment on the ground that the country's delay had prejudiced the defendants. The court noted that the figurine had been publicly displayed for decades and that references to it had appeared in publications long before the lawsuit.

Reuters reported that the court considered Turkey to have had reason to investigate the object's whereabouts during the 1990s.

The legal distinction is important. The appeals court did not resolve every question about the sculpture's origins or independently establish the full circumstances in which it left Anatolia. It upheld the outcome because Turkey's claim was barred by the legal doctrine of laches, which can prevent a party from pursuing a claim after an unreasonable delay that disadvantages the other side.

An ancient object, but a modern problem

The Stargazer case illustrates a problem that can arise in the international art market: a valuable object may have a documented modern ownership trail while important parts of its earlier history remain unknown.

For collectors and auction houses, provenance helps establish where an artwork came from and how it changed hands. For governments seeking the return of cultural objects, records of excavation, export and earlier ownership can be crucial to proving a claim.

The sculpture's auction price demonstrated what a bidder was willing to pay. It did not, by itself, settle the competing questions of historical origin and legal ownership. The case also shows why timing matters. A country may have a strong cultural interest in an ancient object, but recovering it through a foreign court requires evidence that meets the applicable legal standards.

The Stargazer has survived for thousands of years, yet its journey into the modern world remains partly undocumented. Its story is a reminder that an ancient object's value is not only what a buyer offers for it. Sometimes, the most consequential questions concern the parts of its history that no one can fully reconstruct.