LENOX HILL — Avast, ye bowl-looting scalawag!
The daughter of the late art collector Faith Dorian-Wright has accused her nephew of pirating her mother's native Hawaiian bowl that once belonged to famed 18th century explorer Captain James Cook and is worth between $15 million and $18 million.
Ingrid Wright said in legal papers filed in Manhattan Surrogate's Court this week that her nephew, Austin Wright, took the decorative bowl from Dorian-Wright's Lenox Hill apartment and refuses to return it.
The wooden bowl, which is described as being supported by outward-facing human figures, is one of four that Cook acquired between 1776 and 1779 on his third and final voyage to the Pacific Ocean and the Hawaiian islands. Cook and other members of his crew were killed during a fight with Hawaiians in 1779.
Entwistle Gallery, a dealer specializing in tribal art, recently appraised the bowl at the staggering sum. The gallery said that the figures on the bowl likely represent a Hawaiian tribe's vanquished enemies. A king or other very important people in a Hawaiian tribe would drink a fermented root drink from the bowl, the gallery said.
Dorian-Wright, who collected African and Oceanic art, acquired the bowl in 1967 and had kept it in her Park Avenue pad. She died less than two weeks ago and was worth $29 million.
Austin Wright, her grandson, had been living as a guest her in her apartment, according to the court filing.
When Ingrid Wright, the preliminary executor of Dorian-Wright's estate, went to the apartment after her mom's death, she discovered the bowl had been removed, the filing said.
Austin later told Ingrid that he had taken it and has refused to give it back, the filing said.
Austin, who runs the Museum of Democracy, the largest collection of U.S. political memorabilia, declined to comment.
Ingrid's court filing demands that Austin return the bowl and that he leave the Park Avenue apartment so it can be sold.
Douglas Schneidman, a lawyer for Ingrid, declined to comment.
