An ancient statue of a Roman emperor will finally be reunited with his head

The head of an ancient bronze statue of a Roman emperor will soon be reunited with its torso in Turkey. The pieces come from Bubon, a Turkish town known for its ties to the Roman Empire – and the extensive looting that took place there in the 20th century.

The image is thought to be an image Septimius Severuswho ruled from 193 to 211 CE. It had probably been part of a larger collection of sculptures from a sanctuary in Bubon where Roman emperors were worshiped as gods.

It is not known exactly when the head and torso were separated from the statue, but experts now believe that both pieces were smuggled out of the country in the 1960s. The head headed towards the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen, which only knew that the piece came from Asia Minor and dated between 195 and 211 CE

The museum had purchased the piece from Robert Hecht, an American dealer “who would become famous – and later infamous – as one of the world’s leading dealers in antiquities, both looted and legitimate,” the newspaper said. New York Times“Graham Bowley.

If Liz Marlowesays an art historian at Colgate University NPRfrom Elizabeth Blair, “[Hecht] realized that there was a lot of money to be made by bringing the boys in the countryside in Italy, Greece and Turkey into contact with the art dealers.”

In 1979, a curator from the Glyptotek argued that the two pieces were connected and the torso was even loaned to the museum in Copenhagen so that they could be exhibited together. Many years later the torso, which had been in a private American collection, ended up at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York.

But last year, investigators announced that Bubon’s piece had been looted, and so had the artwork seized from the New York museum and returned to Turkey. Since then, the Turkish government has also been on a mission to retrieve the statue’s severed head from Denmark.

Initially, officials in Copenhagen seemed hesitant.

‘I’m not saying they don’t belong together’ Rune Frederiksensaid Glyptotek’s director of collections Agence France-Presse in 2023. “I’m just saying we’re not as sure as we were 25-30 years ago.”

The museum launched an official investigation into the piece last summer. After experts confirmed it had likely been looted, officials decided to return it to Turkey.

“It takes exceptionally strong arguments and scientific documentation to separate a work from the museum’s collection,” he says Gertrud Hvidberg-Hansenthe director of the Glyptotek, in a statement of the museum. “In the case of this object, both criteria were present.”

Turkish officials say they are excited to see the two items reunited in their home country.

“This development sets a new precedent for institutions and collectors around the world, including in Denmark, that all artifacts acquired with obscure provenance should be returned to their rightful owners,” said Hakan Tekin, the Turkish Ambassador to Denmark, in the statement. “Glyptotek did the right thing and we celebrate their decision.”