Metropolitan Museum Seizures Anchor Return of 59 Antiquities to Italy, Iraq, and Indonesia
A major repatriation effort in Manhattan has sent 59 antiquities back to Italy, Iraq, and Indonesia, with 45 of the objects having been seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced the returns on Wednesday, underscoring how aggressively New York investigators continue to pursue illicitly trafficked cultural property.
Among the objects returned to Italy was a terracotta vase attributed to the Troilos Painter, a vessel used for chilling and mixing wine and water. One side shows Dionysos, the Greek god of wine, alongside Herakles on Mount Olympus; the reverse depicts Zeus, Athena, and Nike. Investigators say the vase was smuggled out of Italy by Fritz Burki and consigned for sale at Christie’s London before entering the Met’s collection. Also seized from the museum was a marble fish plate from Magna Graecia, dating to around 400 B.C.E., which entered the Met through dealer Robert Hecht in 1984.
Nine antiquities valued at nearly $300,000 were returned to Iraq. The group includes two of the earliest known sculptural depictions of the human figure in the round: the Sumerian Gypsum Male Worshipper and the Sumerian Gypsum Female Worshipper, both dating to Iraq’s Early Dynastic II period, circa 2750–2600 BCE. At the handover ceremony in Manhattan, Dr. Duraid Abbas, deputy chief of mission of Iraq to the United States, called the return a reflection of the partnership between Iraq and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in protecting shared cultural heritage.
Two human skulls from the Dayak, the collective term for more than 200 Indigenous groups native to Borneo, were also returned to Indonesia. Winanto Adi, consul general of the Republic of Indonesia in New York, said the timing was especially meaningful in a year when the United States marks its 250th anniversary of independence.
The case also reflects a broader shift in museum ethics. As repatriation laws tighten, institutions are increasingly removing human remains from display and returning them to descendant communities. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, led by Matthew Bogdanos, has become one of the most visible forces in that effort. Earlier this year, the Vilcek Foundation awarded Bogdanos a $100,000 prize for excellence in art history, which he declined.
The latest handover suggests that restitution is no longer a peripheral issue in museum culture. It is now central to how institutions, prosecutors, and source countries define stewardship itself.
