Another Bubon Head Returns to Türkiye

Source: Manhattan DA

A bearded head from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (inv. 1971.51.2) has been returned to Türkiye [press release]. The head was included in Cornelius Vermeule's list of figures associated with Bubon (F). Mario A. del Chiaro dated it to the late third century CE, and noted that it came from Türkiye ("Western Asia Minor"). The press release added this information:

Bearded Head of a Man, dating to the 3rd century C.E., was looted from Bubon in 1966 and smuggled out by Turkish traffickers for Robert Hecht. The Bearded Head of a Man was ultimately sold by New York-based dealer Matthias Komor to a private collector, who donated the piece to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, where it was seized by the ATU.

The press release noted that this was one of three Bubon associated pieces that were being returned to Türkiye. One was the Koutoulakis head in the J. Paul Getty Museum but the third is not identified. One possibility is that the third piece was one of two that passed through a Manhattan gallery in 2006 (Vermeule O and P).

These latest returns will place further pressure on the Cleveland Museum of Art to come to an amicable agreement over the statue once described as Marcus Aurelius (Vermeule D).

Reference

Del Chiaro, M. A. 1974. "New Acquisitions of Roman Sculpture at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art." AJA 78: 68–70, pl. 20.

| |

Statues from Bubon and Returns to Türkiye

Reconstruction of Statue Base from Bubon

The looting of the series of bronze imperial statues from the sebasteion at Bubon in Türkiye was shocking. Yet more than half a century on the authorities in Türkiye are achieving the gradual return of the statues, or parts of the statues, that were identified and discussed (among others) by Cornelius C. Vermeule and Arielle P. Kozloff. The display of the statues as originally intended will move a little closer.

The returns include statues of Lucius Verus, the possible leg of a statue of Commodus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, as well as the head of a ruler, a woman, a bearded head, and the head of a youth.

Yet there appears to be active reluctance to accept that the draped man, once presented as Marcus Aurelius, did derive from this group. We also do not know what will happen to the statue in Houston. 

| |

Another Bubon bronze head likely to be repatriated

It appears that a bronze head acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum from Nicolas Koutoulakis has been removed from display and appears to be returning to Türkiye (Adam Schrader, "The Getty Museum Returns an Ancient Bronze Head to Turkey", Artnet April 24, 2024). The head had featured in the Fire of Hephaistos exhibition (1996) no. 44: the find-spot was stated as "Reported to be from Ibecik (ancient Bubon in Lycia) in Turkey". Arielle Kozloff had earlier listed the statue among the Bubon pieces in The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art (1987).

This will put further pressure on the Cleveland Museum of Art in their attempt to disassociate a headless bronze statue from its suggested link with Bubon and its identification with the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Incidentally, the Cleveland statue was illustrated in the Fire of Hephaistos catalogue (cat. 54, fig. 2): "... possibly Marcus Aurelius ... Reported to be from Ibecik (ancient Bubon in Lycia)."

| |

Bubon Bronzes Returning to Türkiye

Portrait of woman. Source: Manhattan DA

Among the antiquities being returned to Türkiye today are several bronzes associated with the Sebasteion at Bubon ("D.A. Bragg Announces Return of 41 Antiquities To The People of Türkiye", December 5, 2023; see here). It is reported to have been handled by Robert Hecht. Among the other pieces are two bronze heads of Caracalla, one from Fordham University, and the other that had been seized from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Two pieces have been returned from Boston's MFA: the head of ruler, and the right leg (perhaps linked to a statue of Commodus). Both Boston pieces are linked to Jerome Eisenberg.

Details of the other items being returned to Türkiye (but unassociated with Bubon) are not provided in any detail except for a silver statue of Cybele that was seized from Michael Ward (see observations from ARCA).

Reconstruction of part of the Sebasteion at Bubon. Source: David Gill

| |

Boston Returns Two Bronzes Linked to Bubon

The @mfaboston has handed over their 2 Bubon pieces to the Manhattan DA. I brought these pieces' origins at Bubon to the museum's attention 2 years ago. They neither acted on the info nor added it to their website (as below): pic.twitter.com/DZPKZOFEdN

— Elizabeth Marlowe (@ElizMarlowe) October 31, 2023

Elizabeth Marlowe has drawn attention (on X) to the return of two bronzes associated with Bubon in Türkiye from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

One is a right leg acquired in 1967 as a gift from Jerome M. Eisenberg and Alan Ravenal (inv. 68.732). The leg appeared in the Harvard exhibition, The Fire of Hephaistos (1996), no. 16: 'now associated with the group of sculptures from ancient Bubon'. Vermeule (1980) linked it with the Bubon series (no. N). Jale Inan (1994) linked the leg with the torso in a private collection (Inan: 'Dr Sackle') and identified as Commodus (Vermeule no. K; Fire of Hephaistos, no. 55). Inan also linked it with the left thigh that appeared on the New York market (Vermeule no. T). A composite image is provided in Inan's study (pl. xxix).

The second piece is a bronze head that was in the possession of Eisenberg in 1966 when it was shown to Vermeule. In 1967 it was sold to a private collector, and in 2003 was presented to Boston by an anonymous donor (inv. 2003.786). 

Display of imperial bronze statues at Bubon.
Reconstruction: David Gill based on Jale Inan.

| |

Bubon: More Returning Sculptures

Line drawing of part of the base in the Sebasteion at Bubon, Türkiye with portrait statues of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus at the appropriate positions. Note: the figures are not to scale.

Christopher Chippindale and I drew attention to the imperial bronzes associated with the Sebasteion at Bubon in Turkey back in 2000: discussion of this group can be traced back to the 1970s. The looting of this space seems to have taken place in the early 1960s. It now seems that the (headless) portrait of Marcus Aurelius as a philosopher will be returned from the Cleveland Museum of Art and will be reunited with the portrait of Lucius Verus from the Shelby White and Leon Levy collection: the pair were originally displayed, appropriately, next to each other. They will join the Lipson statue of Septimius Severus that was seized from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other pieces include the head of Caracalla that had been displayed at Fordham University. 

Elizabeth Marlowe ("Bronze Roman statue, believed to have been looted from Turkey, seized from Cleveland Museum of Art", The Art Newspaper 31 August 2023) has pointed out that Cleveland has played down both the identification with Marcus Aurelius and the association with Bubon. The same phenomenon is being played out with the bronze statue in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. The online entry now notes: 

It was associated throughout the 1970s and 1980s, by some scholars, with other bronzes that had been found near Bubon, Turkey. However, that opinion was ultimately disproved in 1993. The Houston sculpture was acquired in 1962; the excavations at Bubon commenced two years after, in 1964.

The start of the illicit activity at Bubon may well have preceded 1962 and the museum would be sensible to be cautious.

It appears that a portrait of a woman from the Worcester Art Museum (inv. 1966.67) has also been removed from display. It was reported to have been found 'in south-western Anatolia'. Andrew Oliver associated this find with Bubon. 

| |

Bubon and North American Collections

Two Roman imperial statues associated with Bubon in Türkiye appear to be in a state of flux. The statue of Marcus Aurelius that was acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1986 (inv. 1986.5) and had earlier been in the Lipson collection is no longer on public view in spite of being central to the classical galleries. The head of Caracalla, formerly in the collection of Norbert Schimmel, and acquired by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1989 (inv. 1989.281.80) has disappeared from the museum's website, a fate normally indicating that it has been deaccessioned. 

Are these two about to join the statues of Lucius Verus formerly in the Shelby White collection, and the Septimius Severus formerly in the Lipson collection? If so, will Bubon associated statues from other North American and European museums be reunited in Türkiye?

Such returns indicate that material that surfaced prior to 1970 is now subject to investigation.

| |

Return of antiquities to Türkiye

Source: Manhattan DA

Twelve antiquities have been handed over to Türkiye ("D.A. Bragg Returns 12 Antiquities to the Republic of Türkiye", March 22, 2023). Nine of the objects are derived from the Shelby White collection. The remaining three include a head from Perge:

The Perge Theater Head, dating back to 290 C.E., was looted from Perge, an archaeological site in Türkiye. The piece first surfaced on the international art market at Sotheby’s in 2000. It then resurfaced at Christie’s in 2012, when it was purchased by a private collected who loaned it to the Met. It remained at the museum until it was seized by the Office in January.

Formerly New York MMA L.2011.4
© David Gill

Another is a bronze statue apparently looted from Bubon:

A bronze statue of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, dating back to 225 C.E. The statue was stolen in the late 1960s from Bubon, an archaeological site in Türkiye, by looters and was eventually smuggled into Switzerland by Robert Hecht. Coin dealer Charles Lipson eventually loaned the piece to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It landed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011, which it remained on display until it was seized by the Office in February. With its partners in Türkiye, the ATU was able to find and interview one of the individuals who actually looted and smuggled this statue.

This statue will join the Lucius Verus returned to Türkiye from the White collection in 2022. This will have implications for other European and North American museums that currently possess bronzes from this particular site.

It is possible to recognise some of the items from pictures from the press conference. They include a marble 'stargazer' (Glories no. 4), a bronze waggon with oxen (Glories no. 19), and an East Greek trefoil oinochoe decorated with two grazing ibex (Glories  no. 100). A further White piece is:

The Sitting female figure from Çatalhöyük, which dates between 6000 and 5000 B.C.E. After it was smuggled out of Türkiye, it first appeared on the market in London at the Rabi Gallery, where it was purchased by Shelby White in 1985. It remained in his possession until it was seized by the Office in 2023.

This is the steatite sitting female figure (Glories no. 3).

Source: Türkiye, Consulate NY

| |

The Bubon statue in the Cleveland Museum of Art

Imperial bronze in Cleveland Museum of Art
Source: Open Access

In 1986 the Cleveland Museum of Art acquired a bronze statue (Inv. 1986.5). It had previously resided in the collection of Mr & Mrs Charles Lipson of Boston (Mass.). The Lipsons were also the owners of the bronze statue of Lucius Verus that has been returned to Turkey from the Shelby White collection. Both statues are reported to have the same findspot: 'reported to be from Ibecik (ancient Bubon in Lycia), Turkey' (Fire of Hephaistos no. 50; fig. 2 under no. 54). 

Will the Cleveland Museum of Art be contacting Turkish authorities to arrange the return of this statue? 

A discussion of the issues for this statue can be found on Chasing Aphrodite.

| |

Lucius Verus from Bubon Returns to Antalya

Source: BusinessTurkeyToday.com

Back in 2008 I discussed on LM that the bronze statue of Lucius Verus was one of a series of statues that had originated in the sebasteion at Bubon in Turkey (and an earlier discussion in the American Journal of Archaeology in 2000). It now appears that this statue from the collection of Shelby White (Glories no. 174) has been returned to the Antalya Museum (see story here and here). This return comes soon after the return of further Shelby White material to Italy (discussed here).

This return has serious implications for other museums (e.g. the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Fordham University, and the Ny Carlsberg in Copenhagen) that have bronze statues, or parts of bronze statues, that are derived from, linked to, or associated with Bubon (see previous posts here). 

The return includes other material such as part of the terracotta architectural frieze from the temple at Düver that had surfaced on the North American antiquities market. This will cause concerns for a number of museums, including several in the UK, that acquired parts of the series.

Further details are available in a release from the American Embassy in Ankara. 

| |

Looting Matters: looking back on 2017

Detail of Paestan krater
Source: Dr Christos Tsirogiannis

My predictions for 2017 make a good introduction: further seizures as a result of the photographic archives, heritage crime at archaeological sites in the UK, and moves in Westminster to address the protection of cultural property in time of war. I have not covered the latter on LM as some of the discussions are sensitive.

Seizures
The year started with the news of several thousand seizures in a Europe wide Operation Pandora. A major set of seizures were made on the collection formed by the Hobby Lobby.

Smaller seizures included sculptures from Eshmun in the Lebanon, and a fragment of a Persepolis relief.

A head of Drusus Minor was returned to Italy from the Cleveland Museum of Art after it was realised that it had come from a known excavation and had been removed from the archaeological store.

A series of objects were seized from an unnamed Manhattan gallery (Sardinian warrior, Paestan lekythos, Apulian kantharos from the 'J.M.E. collection'). Another seizure included an Attic red-figured lenythos that had formed part of the Kluge collection. An Attic red-figured amphora was seized from a Manhattan gallery after it was recognised from the Becchina archive. A sarcophagus was seized from a Manhattan gallery.

Fragments of a Roman sarcophagus from outside Rome were seized on Sardinia.

Hungary has purchased further part of the Sevso Treasure.

Surfacings
There have been several sightings of objects identified from the photographic archives. They include:

• Marble funerary markers (Becchina)
• Marble stele (Becchina)
• Attic red-figured cup (Medici)
• Attic red-figured skyphos in Toledo (Medici)
• a marble athlete (Symes)
• Scythian silver rhyton, Scythian moose, and Roman portrait head (Symes and Medici) 

A Paestan krater was returned by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a marble Zeus sold by the Fleischmans to the J. Paul Getty Museum was handed over.

Metal-detecting
The police are acknowledging that there is an issue relating to illegal metal-detecting in East Anglia. An example of such activity was noted for Weeting Castle. The number of Treasure Finds in the UK has increased. The revised code of practice for metal-detecting has been issued.

Reviewing old cases
Although looting continues to be a problem, it is important to look back at historic cases that have yet to be resolved. They include the series of Roman imperial portraits looted from Bubon in Turkey and now in North American and European collections.

The process of how looted antiquities were acquired by museums and private collectors continues to be researched.  One of the key figures in the acquisition of objects by the J. Paul Getty Museum was was Fritz Bürki. Until the full histories of the objects are disclosed a question mark must remain over the objects.

The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University has yet to resolve the case of three disputed items that have been identified in the Greek press.

Forgeries
Forgeries continue to corrupt the market and provide false information about 'ancient art'. The problem of forging Anatolian sculptures has been discussed.

Lucius Verus said to be from Bubon

Portrait of Lucius Verus, 160 - 170 A.D., Bronze
36 × 23 × 28 cm (14 3/16 × 9 1/16 × 11 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

I am reviewing some long-standing claims of cultural property. Among them is the head from a bronze portrait of Lucius Verus. This is said to be from the Sebasteion at Bubon in Turkey.

It surfaced on the London market in the summer of 1970 after being restored by Peter Smith and Anna Plowden (Bernard Weinraub, "Squashed Bust of an Emperor Restored by 2 Young Britons", New York Times 7 June 1970). A representative of Spink & Son suggested that the head had been "excavated in Eastern Europe, probably Hungary, after World War II".

Yet by 1981 Jiri Frel could claim that the head was "said to be from Bubon" (Roman Portraits, no. 62; inv. 73.AB.100). This reflected the research of Jale Inan and Cornelius C. Vermeule. Carol Mattusch in 1996 noted, "Reported to be from Ibecik (ancient Bubon in Lycia), Turkey."

The head was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum subsequent to the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Will the museum be returning the head to Turkey along with associated pieces?

The Bubon Caracalla at Fordham

+ Caracalla photobomb. RT @profpeppard: Material culture in #antiquity w @MichaelPeppard @Praxeas and Jennifer Udell! pic.twitter.com/q9TuVfA3tn
— Michael Peppard (@MichaelPeppard) October 7, 2014

I am sure that colleagues in Turkey will be interested in the way that one of the imperial statues linked to the Sebasteion at Bubon is being paraded at Fordham.

Let me quote from the Fordham catalogue: "it has been suggested that the Fordham example may have belonged to a large statue group of Roman emperors from a Sebasteion in the city of Bubon in northern Lycia, Asia Minor".

In fact there is even more reason for linking this head to Bubon.

I presume that Fordham will be contacting the Turkish authorities.

The Koutoulakis connection

The withdrawal of a Roman herm from Bonhams this week raises the issue of links with Nikolas Koutoulakis.

• The Koutoulakis krater in Yale acquired in 1985
• Bronze fragments from the Bubon Sebasteion in the J. Paul Getty Museum acquired in 1971 and 1972
• Minoan larnax given to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in memory of Nikolas Koutoulakis
• Glass bowl with erotic scene in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art
• The Getty lions from Preturo
• An inscription returned to Greece from the J. Paul Getty Museum
• A Bactrian copper alloy seated figure

It makes you wonder why Bonhams had not conducted a more rigorous due diligence search when they saw the name Koutoulakis.

The Bubon Caracalla at Fordham

The Fire of Hephaistos gives a brief mention of the bronze head of Caracalla that was removed from the Sebasteion at Bubon in Turkey (and others appear in the catalogue). The same head is mentioned in Gill and Chippindale, "Material consequences of contemporary classical collecting", AJA 104 (2000).

And now this head appears in the Fordham University Collection inv. 7.068: "it has been suggested that the Fordham example may have belonged to a large statue group of Roman emperors from a Sebasteion in the city of Bubon". Indeed it has been suggested that the head fits the headless statue in Houston Museum of Fine Arts (also apparently one of the Bubon statues).

The curatorial team at Fordham may be unaware of the issues surrounding Bubon. But I hope that one of them will do the honourable thing and contact the cultural attache at the Turkish Embassy.

Shaky Ground: Context Matters

I am working my way through Elizabeth Marlowe's Shaky Ground: Context, Connoisseurship and the History of Roman Art (Debates in Archaeology; Bloomsbury 2013). Readers of LM need to read this important contribution. There is a chapter on "Indifference to Context", and "Red Herrings" includes discussions of licit / illicit, the Nostoi exhibitions, as well as repatriation.

The work includes a short discussion (and photograph) of the bronze Marcus Aurelius in Cleveland that appears to have come from Bubon in Turkey.

Marlowe is reminding her readers that loss of context has an impact on the way that scholars can interpret works of art that have been removed from their find-spots without record.

Bubon: Fire of Hephaistos

The Fire of Hephaistos exhibition included "seven bronzes ... that have been linked to the Bubon cache of imperial statues" (p. 177). These appear to be:

1. Lucius Verus. Shelby White collection. [no. 50]
2. Head of Lucius Verus. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum inv. 73.AB.100. Purchased from Spink & Son, London. [no. 51]
3. Marcus Aurelius. Cleveland Museum of Art inv. 86.5. [under no. 54] [For the base.]
4. Heroic male torso (Commodus?). Private collection. [no. 55]. Perhaps linked to right leg of a man. Boston MFA inv. 68.732. Gift of Jerome M. Eisenberg and Alan Ravenal. [no. 16]
5. Front of a left foot/. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum inv. 72.AB.103. Acquired from Nicolas Koutoulakis. [no. 19]
6. Mid-Antonine head of a woman. Worcester Art Museum inv. 1966.67. [no. 38]
7. Portrait head of a young man with a short beard. Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum inv. 71.AB.458. Acquired from Nicolas Koutoulakis. [no. 44]

No doubt the publication of the Leutwitz Apollo by the Cleveland Museum of Art will draw attention to this material removed from Turkey.

For further details of the Sebasteion see here.

The Leutwitz Apollo: the missing x-rays?

One of the significant omissions in Michael Bennett's Praxiteles is an x-ray (or set of x-rays) of the bronze 'Leutwitz Apollo' acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Bruce Christman, one of the people to make a 'scientific' study of the Apollo, had also undertaken a technical analysis of the Marcus Aurelius, apparently from Bubon in Turkey. The Bubon x-rays demonstrate the way that the statue was put together.

So why not include the x-rays of the Apollo in this book? Christman clearly took x-rays (p. 60). Do they show something about the statue that Christman does not wish to reveal?

Cleveland on Turkey's culture war

Michael Bennett has decided to provoke the Republic of Turkey's attempts to claim material in Cleveland. Perhaps he could have had a full discussion of the looting of the temple linked to the Roman imperial cult at Bubon in Turkey. What would Bennett says about Cleveland's Marcus Aurelius?

Perhaps Bennett's less than gracious attack on Turkey will encourage the Turkish authorities to renew their interest. Steven Litt, in an article that does not appear in Bennett's bibliography, reminds us of the range of material that appears to have been derived from Turkey.

More discussion can be found at Chasing Aphrodite.

Bennett's Praxiteles is certainly reopening lines of enquiry that had lain dormant. We should be grateful to him.

Bubon and the Getty

Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino have listed some of the items that Turkey would like to see returned from the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Three of the pieces on their list have been identified as being associated (by Vermeule, and more recently Kozloff) with Bubon in Turkey. (I also add the information supplied by Felch and Frammolino.)

a. 73.AB.100. Lucius Verus. Formerly London, Spinks. "Purchased in 1973 for $37,701 from Spink & Son, London."

b. 71.AB.458. Head of youth. "Purchased in 1971 for $90,000 from Nicolas Koutoulakis". Fire of Hephaistos no. 44: "Reported to be from Ibecik (ancient Bubon in Lycia) Turkey".

c. 72.AB.151. Eagle. "Purchased in 1972 for $200,00 from French & Company."

Felch and Frammolino note a fourth:
d. 72.AB.103. Bronze foot. "Acquired from Nicolas Koutoulakis." Fire of Hephaistos no. 19: "Reported to be from Ibecik (ancient Bubon in Lycia), Turkey".

Kozloff, A. P. 1987. "Bubon: a re-assessment of the provenance." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74: 130-43.

Mattusch, C. C. 1996. The fire of Hephaistos: large classical bronzes from North American collection. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Art Museums.