In 1971, an ancient Greek krater, a vase-like object used for mixing water and wine, was excavated from an Etruscan tomb near Rome and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $1 million the following year. The krater was extremely desirable as it is one of the few known examples of work by the ancient artist Euphronios, dating from 515 BCE.     Euphronios’ work contains the mythological figure of Zeus’ son, Sarpedon, being carried by Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death) with the help of Hermes (The Messenger), all rendered in the red-figure style. The opposite side of the krater features warrior figures in the midst of preparation for battle.

Although sold through a dealer, skepticism quickly formed around the krater’s provenance and many believed that it had been excavated illegally and smuggled. The truth was not revealed until 1995 when the Swiss warehouse of antiquities launderer Giacomo Medici was raided to expose thousands of stolen objects and the records of their sales to museums and collectors. It was revealed that Giacomo Medici bought the krater directly from the tomb robbers who discovered the ancient object. Medici then sold the krater to Robert Hecht, an American antiquities dealer, who in turn sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $1 million in 1972.

After the discovery of the krater’s true provenance, the Italian government began requesting the return of the artifact to its homeland. In 2005, Italy began a public campaign in an attempt to reclaim looted Italian objects from various foreign museums. The campaign inspired debate over the fate of the Euphronios Krater and raised questions surrounding the repatriation of art objects. However, there was no denying that the sale of the krater was achieved illegally, as a UNESCO cultural property law created in 1970 at the UNESCO Convention in Paris deemed exporting any ancient object discovered in the ground of a country’s territory to be criminal without a permit. Although the Euphronios Krater was considered to be one of the most important pieces of art ever acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it was witnessed by millions of visitors, in 2008 the Met reached a deal with the Italian government. These negotiations granted the return of the krater in exchange for long-term loans of comparably valuable Italian pieces and the rights to display them. The Euphronios Krater now resides in its homeland of Italy at the Villa Giulia Museum in Rome.

References:

Felos, Kimberly. “Repatriation of Greek Art Treasures.” American Foundation for Greek Language and Culture. Accessed February 1, 2015. http://www.afglc.org/pages/foru/afglc_forum_2010/felos_repatriation_afglc_forum_2010.pdf

“Top 10 Plundered Artifacts.” Time Magazine. Accessed February 1, 2015. http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1883142_1883129_1929080,00.html

“Euphronios Krater.” The New York Times. Accessed February 1, 2015. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/euphronios_krater/index.html