Idealized Greek King from Bubon

This bronze face of a bearded, curly-haired Greek king was shown to Boston Museum of Fine Arts curator, Cornelius Vermeule, by antiquities dealer Jerome Eisenberg in 1966 as part of a larger collection of bronze fragments that recently appeared on the art market.

Eisenberg, owner of Manhattan dealership Royal-Athena Galleries, sold the head the next year to an anonymous collector, who donated it to the MFA in 2003. In 1968, Eisenberg also donated a bronze leg of a man to the MFA along with collector Alan Ravenal of Providence, RI.

Later research by Turkish authorities and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office found that the leg and head had belonged to statues of emperors that were looted from the imperial sanctuary at Bubon, Türkiye, between 1952 and 1966. The site of Bubon did not undergo scientific archaeological excavation until 1967, which suggests that these bronzes (and others from Bubon) had recently been stolen when they were offered for sale on the international market.

In 2023, the Manhattan District Attorney's office contacted the MFA regarding the sculptures as part of a sweeping investigation of objects looted from Bubon. The MFA researched the pieces and concluded that they were very likely looted. In October 2023, the museum agreed in a stipulation to return both of objects to Türkiye.

MFA Boston. A personification or idealized Greek king
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/436506/a-personification-or-idealized-greek-king?ctx=ea1e78d4-eeaa-4144-b4a5-360b087aaed1&idx=1

MFA Boston. Right leg of a man
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/152816/right-leg-of-a-man?ctx=51b961ff-3c14-4e68-96f4-47cd59c1b9ac&idx=26