Stolen artifact returned Iraq after it was discovered in Emory museum collection
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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The FBI on Wednesday returned a 2,700-year-old artifact believed stolen from a Baghdad museum in 2003 to the Iraqi government.
The artifact, “Furniture Fitting with Sphinx Trampling a Youth,” had been held and on exhibit at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. Carlos Museum was unaware that the artifact had been stolen, a spokesperson said. At the time of the purchase, the seller gave Emory documentation that the university believed was valid.
“Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum returned a Nimrud Ivory from its collections to the Iraqi government, following new research into the piece’s provenance,” a spokesperson for Emory Unviersity said. “The object belongs to the collections of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. While the Carlos was supplied with what appeared to be legitimate provenance documentation at the time of the object’s purchase in 2006, we no longer view that information as valid.”
Atlanta-based FBI agents had been investigating the art crime since January 2022.
Historians date the artifact back to the Iron Age and 7th century BC. It stands only two and a quarter inch tall by one and a half inches wide and is made of ivory, pigment, and gold leaf.
Agents believe the artifact was stolen during looting of the Iraq Museum in 2003. The Carlos Museum purchased the artifact from a third party in 2006 after agents believe administrators were shown a fake provenance. The presented provenance stated the artifact entered the United States in 1969.
After consulting with experts, including one which took photographs of the item in the Baghdad Museum in 1983, agents determined the artifact belonged to Iraq. Carlos Museum personnel cooperated with agents, the FBI said, and voluntarily handed over the artifact to agents in December 2022.
FBI agents have returned a stolen artifact believed stolen from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in 2003 to the Iraqi government. The artifact had been held and on exhibit at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta.(WANF)
“While realize there was no ill intent on behalf of Emory University, we are glad our agents could return a small part of history back to where it belongs in Iraq,” said Keri Farley, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta.
This story was provided by Atlanta News First. Decaturish asked Emory University for comment, and the university’s response has been added to this story.