STOLEN ANCIENT ARTEFACTS WORTH $2.2 MILLION RETURNED TO GREECE AND ITALY

Although some might view the terms “cultural restitution” and “repatriation” as mere trendy expressions, last month, New York authorities proved that they take the return of cultural artefacts seriously.  In February, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office revealed two distinct events of ancient artefact repatriations, while the Metropolitan Museum of Art also disclosed a return case following internal provenance research on an item in their collection.

The two collections retrieved by the District Attorney’s office will be sent back to Greece and Italy. The Greek artefacts, comprising 11 pieces, are valued at around $1 million. This collection features a fourth-century BCE kantharos dedicated to Dionysus, a figure of the legendary heroine Atalanta, a votive figurine from 1300-1200 BCE, and a marble funerary relief dating from the fourth to third century BCE, among other items.

The artefacts being repatriated to Italy have an estimated value of $1.2 million; they were retrieved through a series of simultaneous investigations and linked to various recognised antique traffickers. Among the notable pieces among these retrieved artefacts are a bronze patera from the fourth century BCE, an Apulian volute krater dating to 320-310 BCE, and a mid-sixth century BCE terracotta kylix band-cup.

A statement from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office provides additional details regarding how these items arrived in New York and the individuals involved. The bronze patera, a shallow dish used by the Romans for making libations, was illicitly exported from Italy by convicted antiquities dealer Gianfranco Becchina. It then passed into the possession of Mathias Komor, an antiquities dealer, who sold the bowl to its present owner before being confiscated by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU) of the District Attorney’s office.

The Apulian volute krater, customarily utilised for blending wine and water, was initially discovered among Greek remains in Southern Italy and was thought to have been smuggled out of Italy by Edoardo Almagià. He auctioned the artefact to a gallery in Manhattan at some time prior to 1987, and this year, the ATU confiscated it from a private collection. Almagià has been accused due to his ties to the antiquities smuggling inquiries.

The terracotta kylix, a cup for drinking, “was discovered and unlawfully excavated from the Etruscan archaeological site of Vulci during the 1960s before being smuggled out of Italy by dealer Robert Hecht, based in New York and Paris.” The announcement states that the kylix “was ultimately obtained by the Met in 2017, where it stayed until it was taken by the ATU.”

As stated in a declaration issued on February 24, the Met also engaged in a repatriation effort involving an item from its collection following internal provenance investigation. A ceremony for restitution took place to return a bronze head from the seventh century, which was initially found in Olympia in 1914.

Scholars suspect that the artefact was taken from the Archaeological Museum of Olympia in the 1930s, later finding its way to the United States where it was given to the museum by a past trustee. Although the path to restitution and repatriation is still ongoing, the return of these artifacts to Greece and Italy represents progress.