The English man of letters Horace Walpole was one of the first collectors to furnish his house with antiques as well as antiquities.
But Dr. Vikan worries that museums in the United States may be shortchanged as antiquities dealers become increasingly fearful.
She listed artifacts that the Getty returned to Italy during her tenure as antiquities curator, from 1986 until 2005.
Whatever air of nobility once attached to that effort has dissipated recently as antiquities collectors are increasingly depicted as the beneficiaries of a villainous trade.
In March, things became so difficult for him that he stepped down from his position as antiquities minister, only to be reinstated a few weeks later.
Mr. Hamdani's successor as antiquities inspector for the province, Amir Abdul Razak al-Zubaidi, said he did not even have the budget to pay for gas to drive to the sites of new looting.
Ms. True resigned her post as antiquities curator last October after the museum said she had violated Getty rules by borrowing $400,000 to buy the villa with the help of one of the museum's principal suppliers of ancient art.
He admits that as antiquities minister he gave the go-ahead to the 2010 documentary, but says that during filming, "no one touched the cartouches and no one even put their hands near it".
