Erin L. Thompson (@artcrimeprof.bsky.social)

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Jul 11, 2026, 3:12 PM Pinned

A few days before Christmas 2016, a grey Land Rover paused in front of a bank of mirrored windows at this checkpoint on the border between France and Switzerland. What happened next revealed just how looted art worms its way into museums.

A 🧵 about my article: hyperallergic.com/why-do-so-ma...

Screencap from a "Chasseur de Trésor et Fouilles Illégales: Genève au Cœur d’un Trafic d’Antiquités,” RTS, February 12, 2023, www.rts.ch/info/regions/geneve/13760278-chasseur-de-tresor-et-fouilles-illegales-geneve-au-cur-dun-trafic-dantiquites.html

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 2:56 PM

thank you - I hope you enjoy!!!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 7:34 PM

That was a bingo - thank you!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 11, 2026, 5:23 PM

oooooh this is good

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 12:39 PM

I had so much fun talking with @garius.bsky.social about antiquities forgery and smuggling in the 1920s!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 12:13 AM

These are incredible!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 1:39 AM

Cooper Hewitt is punching way above its weight lately!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 11:23 PM

awesome!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 8:45 PM

I chose Pangram after the NYT reporting on its stats - if you have reasons for doubting, I'd love to know! (In this case, I was certain on my own before running it through.)

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 7:58 PM

oooh I hope you can post some examples!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 5:52 PM

💯

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 5:27 PM

I freaking loooooove The Moonstone

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 5:24 PM

The OP is exaggerating actual events: www.bbc.com/news/article...

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 4:46 PM

I don’t know! The demons are generally shown as bound in these incantation bowls, so maybe it’s ropes or chains or something?

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 4:44 PM

Yes! And it’s wonderful:

... "If you harm Abuna bar Garibta and Bayba bar Yawitay, I shall put a spell of the sea and a spell of the sea snake Leviathan upon you. If you harm Abuna bar Garibta and his spouse and his children, I shall bend you like a bow and span you like a bowstring.
Again, (if) you do some harm to the house of Papaq and his possessions and his household, I, Abuna bar Garibta or Bayba bar Yawitay, shall put a ban, a decree and an anathema upon you with my own doing which were (already) put upon Mount Hermon, the sea snake Leviathan, and Sodom and Gomorrhah ..." ...

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 2:48 PM

500 CE, rather! Need more coffee. Probably shouldn’t drink it out of a bowl like this, though.

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 2:47 PM

Doh!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 1:17 PM

Top-tier weird little guy on an incantation bowl from Nippur, Iraq, c 500 BCE, in the Penn Museum.

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 12:40 PM

Took an embarrassingly long time for me to realize that these were two overlapping ads, rather than a shower from hell presenting masterpieces from the Prado

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 2:06 PM

Oh this is awesome! Thank you!

@artcrimeprof.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 2:05 PM

Thank you! I should have clarified that I know my way around a docket - I just don’t know how to explain it to my students most efficiently. I’ll add your notes to mine!