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- Fragments from a priceless Greek ceremonial
bowl depicting scenes from the Trojan war have been recovered by Italian
police investigating the illegal export of stolen antiquities, the London
Times reports Tuesday.
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- The 2,500-year-old bowl depicts Helen
of Troy meeting her husband Menelaus, King of Sparta, at the end of the
Trojan war. It is signed by the ancient Greek artist Euphronios, who lived
from 520 to 470 BC and was the leading potter of his age, the Times reports.
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- The dish was stolen 20 years ago from
a cemetery in Cerveteri, north of Rome, that is full of treasures from
the Etruscans, a highly developed urban civilization which inhabited much
of Italy before the rise of the Romans. The Etruscans were fond of Greek
artwork and often decorated their tombs with it.
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- Anna Maria Moretti, superintendent of
archaeology for Southern Etruria, tells the Times that the bowl is of "inestimable
value," and will form the centerpiece for the collection of Etruscan
art and artifacts at the Villa Giulia in the Villa Borghese Gardens in
Rome.
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- In recent years, Italy has been campaigning
hard for the return of stolen works of art from leading museums and collectors
who often purchased the goods in good faith, the Times reports.
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- The highly decorated stolen dish came
to the attention of Italian police when it surfaced -- reconstructed from
fragments -- in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in California
last year, the Times reports.
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- The museum returned its incomplete bowl
to Italy earlier this year when the dish's stolen nature came to light.
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- Italian police had become suspicious
of the Trojan war cup when they learned that it had been reconstituted
from fragments purchased from Giacomo Medici, an Italian antiquities dealer,
over a period years beginning in 1982, says the Times.
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- "After all, if a valuable piece
arrives in bits, you have to ask yourself where they're coming from. You
also have to have some idea of what the finished article looks like,"
says Peter Watson, a British art expert known for his work in tracking
stolen antiquities,
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- Under investigation by Italian police
for his activities in the purchase and sale of ancient -- and likely stolen
-- antiquities, Medici finally tipped police off as to where the three
remaining fragments to complete the bowl could be found.
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