The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently announced that it will return three ancient sculptures to Iraq, dating from 3rd to 2nd millennium BCE. They are estimated to be collectively worth $500,000.
The items are a Sumerian vessel made of gypsum alabaster (ca. 2600–2500 BCE) and two Babylonian terracotta sculptures (ca. 2000-1600 BCE) depicting a male head and a female head, respectively. The museum said it was making the return in “cooperation with the Manhattan DA’s office,” and that the return had come after the Met had “received new information” amid the investigation into Robin Symes, a dealer accused of being a member of a network that traded in looted artifacts.
A press release from the DA’s Office said that the Symes investigation has resulted in the seizure of 135 antiquities valued at more than $58 million. The release also noted that two of the items were seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU) earlier this year.
Head of a male. Old Babylonian (ca. 2000–1600 BCE). Southern Mesopotamia, Babylonian. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The two Babylonian ceramic sculptures are thought to be from Isin, an archaeological site in Iraq, and were looted in the late 1960s. The Manhattan DA’s office noted that Head of a male was then smuggled out of Iraq and was in Symes’s possession in London by 1971. The next year, Symes sold the sculpture to the Met; it remained in the institution’s collection until it was seized by the ATU.
Vessel supported by two rams was first offered to the Met in 1956 by Switzerland-based antiquities dealer-trafficker Nicolas Koutoulakis, “who informed the museum that the Vessel had been found at a site near the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. The Vessel then passed through multiple private collectors and dealers, including Symes, before permanently entering The Met’s collection in 1989,” according to the Manhattan DA’s office.
The museum’s press release said the vessel was gifted to the museum in 1989 by the Norbert Schimmel Trust, named after a longtime trustee who died in 1990. The museum noted that “it appeared on the Baghdad art market, was purchased by Swiss dealer Nicolas Koutoulakis by 1956 and later acquired by Cecile de Rothschild.”
“The Met is committed to the responsible collecting of art and the shared stewardship of the world’s cultural heritage and has made significant investments in accelerating the proactive research of our collection,” Max Hollein, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s director and CEO, said in a press statement. “The Museum is grateful for our ongoing conversations with Iraq regarding future collaborative endeavors, and we look forward to working together to advance our shared dedication to fostering knowledge and appreciation of Iraqi art and culture.”
“We continue to recover and return antiquities that were trafficked by Robin Symes,” District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said in a press statement. “That is a testament to the hard work of attorneys, analysts and investigators who are committed to undoing the significant damage traffickers have caused to our worldwide cultural heritage.”
H. E. Nazar Al Khirullah, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the US, described the leadership of the ATU as “instrumental” in the recovery of his country’s looted heritage. “We also appreciate our strong and ongoing partnership with The Met, whose commitment to cultural preservation complements our shared mission to safeguard the world’s antiquities,” he said in a press statement.
Symes’s legacy of trafficking antiquities includes 351 antiquities returned to Greece after a 17-year legal battle, two antiquities worth $1.26 million returned to Libya, 750 artifacts recovered by Italy, a limestone elephant returned to Iraq, and an alabaster female figure returned to Yemen, all in 2023.
Symes was convicted of contempt of court for lying about antiquities he held in storage locations around the world in 2005. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but only served seven months. He died in 2023.
