Friday 11 July 2008

Shelby White to return two antiquities to Greece

The Hellenic Ministry of Culture announced today that Shelby White will be returning two pieces in her collection to Greece later this month ("Greece strikes deal with US collector for return of 2 looted antiquities", IHT, July 11, 2008).

The pieces are:
a. A fragmentary marble funerary stele with a warrior and young man dating to the 4th century BCE. It is reported that the lower part of the stele was excavated in the 1960s near Porto Rafti in Attica (and I presume this is the fragment on display in the entrance hall to the Brauron Museum).
b. A bronze krater dating to c. 340 BCE. It is reported that the piece "was probably found during an illegal excavation in northern Greece".

The Ministry is quoted as saying that Shelby White purchased the pieces "in good faith".

No further details appear to be available at the present time.

Postscript: A Ministry press statement has suggested that the krater was found in Pieria, Macedonia; it also confirms that the bottom part of the stele is in the Brauron Museum. [See Reuters]

3 comments:

David Gill said...

Maria Petrakis also comments at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aIACdZ7p1E6k&refer=muse.

David Gill said...

For comments in the English-language Athens press:
http://www.athensnews.gr/.

David Gill said...

For the display of the pieces in the National Museum, Athens.

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