Iran fails to reclaim Persepolis fragment

Iran on Friday lost a legal battle against an 85-year-old French widow over a piece of carved limestone from the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis.

London's High Court ruled in favour of Denyse Berend, who bought the artefact in 1974, in a case brought against her by the Iranian government which sought to reclaim the relief fragment.

After a week of legal argument, Mr Justice Eady decided Berend was the legal owner of the piece, originally part of a wall frieze from the Northern Facade of the Eastern Staircase of the Apadana, or audience hall, at Persepolis.

Berend bought it at a New York auction in 1974 and decided to sell it through London auctioneers Christie's in 2004.

From Reuters. More detail on the background to the case in an earlier article in the Telegraph; though the case was being tried in London, a key issue was whether title was to be determined according to French or Iranian law:

Iran based its title to the fragment on two sources — historic title and Iranian statutory law. However, Paul Lowenstein, for Mrs Berend, said she bought the fragment through an agent and took possession of it in "good faith".

The barrister also argued that the collector obtained "good title" to the relief "by proscription" under French law as it was in her "continuous and open possession for a period of over 30 years" before she sent it to Christie's for sale.

So if the piece had not been held openly (the relief had been purchased at public auction in New York in 1974), Iran might well have prevailed, even under French law.

Posted by David on January 22, 2007 10:05 AM