19-02-2025
Cleveland Museum of Art to return looted, headless, bronze statue to Türkiye
CLEVELAND (WJW) – A headless, bronze statue at the Cleveland Museum of Art is confirmed to have been looted from Bubon, Türkiye, and will soon be returned.
The statue, known in Cleveland for many years as 'Draped Male Figure' or 'The Philosopher,' is valued at $20 million and is believed to be of former Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, although without the head it will likely never be proven.
The Cleveland Museum of Art issued a press release on Friday confirming the findings of its testing.
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'(…) The Cleveland Museum of Art has made the decision to transfer the Greek or Roman bronze statue of a draped male figure (the Philosopher) to the district attorney for delivery to the Republic of Türkiye,' the release reads. 'The test results led the museum to conclude that the statue was likely present at the site commonly known as the Sebasteion in the ancient city of Bubon, Türkiye.
Those tests involved creating molds of the statue's feet, including a lead plug in the left foot, and comparing them to stone pedestals located at the Sebasteion, which retain certain holes on their upper surfaces to hold the feet of statues.'
The MOA said three different types of analyses were performed on soil samples from within the statue as well.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr.'s Office said this is one of 15 antiquities looted, 14 of which have been repatriated to Türkiye. Their combined value is estimated to be $80 million.
'I appreciate the museum's cooperation throughout this matter, which is illustrative of how we can work together to ensure that looted antiquities are in the possession of its rightful owners. Our extensive investigation into the widespread and historic looting at Bubon has now led to 15 antiquities recovered for the people of Türkiye, and I thank our team of prosecutors, analysts, and investigators for their hard work,' District Attorney Bragg said in a press release.
Many art historians feel strongly that this statue is of the former Roman emperor.
'I think everyone knows that this is Marcus Aurelius and this was certainly one of the top ten or 15 works of art in the Cleveland Museum of Art,' Case Western Reserve University Professor Henry Adams said.
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Adams tells Fox 8 there has always been suspicion the statue was smuggled.
'This is a work that was purchased in 1986,' he explained. 'When I came to the museum in 1996, I was told by quite a number of people that this was something that had been stolen from Turkey. That was rumor.'
The Cleveland Museum of Art said its extensive testing proves the statue is 'probably not' Marcus Aurelius, but rather a Greek Philosopher.
'The stone base at the Sebasteion where the statue was likely located does not bear any inscription,' the release reads. 'Although there is an inscription on a separate stone base at the Sebasteion that bears a legend in ancient Greek of 'Marcus Aurelius,' the new tests suggest that the Philosopher is highly unlikely to have ever been on that stone base. Without a head or identifying inscription, the identity of the statue remains uncertain.'
Turkish officials and the MOA are considering a temporary display of the statue in Cleveland prior to its transfer to Türkiye for cultural cooperation between Türkiye and the museum. No date has been set for either the display or return.
How did it end up in Cleveland? The DA's office detailed the history in its release:
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'In the 1960s, individuals from a village near Bubon began plundering a Sebasteion, an ancient shrine with monumental bronze statues of Roman emperors and selling those looted antiquities to smugglers based in the coastal Turkish city of Izmir. Working with Switzerland-based trafficker George Zakos and New York-and-Paris-based trafficker Robert Hecht, they unlawfully removed the looted antiquities from Türkiye, transporting them to Switzerland or the United Kingdom, and then onward to the United States or other European destinations. Once the statues were in the United States, New York-based dealers such as Jerome Eisenberg's Royal-Athena Galleries and the Merrin Gallery funneled the stolen Bubon bronzes into museum exhibitions and academic publications thereby laundering the pieces with newly crafted provenance. As the Bubon pieces graced the pages of exhibition catalogues and academic publications, the reputational value of the institutions who displayed the Bubon pieces increased, and the financial value of the statues grew.'
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