Bronze Statue of Dionysus

Bronze Statue of Dionysus

In 1996 this life-size Roman-era bronze statue of Dionysus was seized from a Swiss warehouse as part of an asset seizure following an order of the UK High Court of Justice made under the Drug Trafficking Act of 1994.

The storage unit belonged to Nevzat Telliagoglu, an alleged trafficker of drugs and antiquities with links to the Turkish mafia, who had been convicted of drug trafficking in England. Telliagoglu, who also goes by the names Nevzat Telli, David Telliağaoğlu, and David Telli, was sentenced to 22 years in prison and given an asset confiscation order of over £3.4 million. The latter prompted the search of the defendant’s Swiss warehouse, leading to the discovery of the Dionysus. The sculpture, which researchers suggest may have been used as a lamp holder, was found broken into pieces, and bearing significant impact damage from the pickaxes used in its illegal excavation.

Swiss authorities released the statue to the UK pending an investigation of its origins, during which time the work was held at the British Museum for safekeeping. Although researchers at the British Museum agreed that the statue belonged to Türkiye, neither they nor the Turkish authorities could prove with certainty that the statue had not originated from elsewhere in the Roman Empire.

In 2000, however, Turkish authorities presented evidence to the UK High Court that the Dionysus had been purchased in Türkiye and illegally exported, clearing the way for its repatriation. The court found that Telliagoglu had used the proceeds of heroin smuggling to purchase ancient art, including the Dionysus. The sculpture was returned to Türkiye in a ceremony held on November 23, 2002, and it was installed in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara.

In an interesting coda to the story, in 2007 Nevzat Telliagoglu appealed for relief from the confiscation order, stating that he was unable to pay the outstanding £1.9 million in part because his 2,000-year-old statue of Dionysus had been repatriated. This appeal was denied on the basis that Telliagoglu had attempted to hide his assets prior to his original sentencing.

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Sculpture – statues, carvings, bronzes, reliefs, figurines

Roman

Türkiye

Emily Hamann

Lisa Duffy-Zeballos