Persepolis Relief

persepol-300x297.jpg

Object or Group Name

Persepolis Relief

Case Summary

This eight-inch-square piece of carved limestone was part of a long line of soldiers depicted on a balustrade on the central building at Persepolis, the ancient capital of the Achaemenid dynasty dating to the 5th century B.C.E. and a world heritage site since 1979. UNESCO describes is as "among the world’s greatest archaeological sites."

The relief was intact when excavations began at the site in 1931, but it was stolen sometime in 1935, during Oriental Institute of Chicago excavations. It first appeared on display as part of the collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which had acquired it by donation in 1950 or 1951.

The relief was stolen from the museum in 2011, and later recovered. London Antiquities dealers Rupert Wace and Sam Fogg acquired it from the Montreal MFA’s insurance company and offered it for sale at TEFAF in New York in October 2017, valued at USD $1,200,000.

The work was seized by the Manhattan DA's Office based upon evidence that it had been stolen from Iran in the 1930s.

Number of Objects

1

Object Type

Fragment
Architecture – antefixes, doors, sconces, friezes

Culture

Persian

Auction House

TEFAF

Private Collector

Frederick Cleveland Morgan

Museum Name

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Receiving Country

Iran

Sources

Fight to Return Plundered Persian Limestone Relief
https://www.artandiplawfirm.com/right-for-plundered-persian-relief/

Police Seize a $1.2 Million Ancient Persian Sculpture at the Ritzy TEFAF New York Art Fair
https://news.artnet.com/market/relief-seized-tefaf-new-york-1132610

No Country for Old Achaemenids
Persepolis Stone Fragment Returns to Iran After Series of Bizarre Events

https://culturalpropertynews.org/no-country-for-old-achaemenids/

MOLA Contributor(s)

Jason Felch

Peer Reviewed By

Damien Huffer

Citation

“Persepolis Relief,” Museum of Looted Antiquities, accessed November 3, 2024, https://mola.omeka.net/items/show/1258.

Geolocation