Ancient Roman bust seized from Massachusetts museum in looting probe

WORCESTER, Mass. — A bronze bust believed to depict the daughter of an historic Roman emperor has been seized from an artwork museum in Massachusetts via New York government investigating antiquities stolen from Turkey.

The seizure is the newest in an ongoing investigation right into a smuggling community involving items looted from Bubon in southwestern Turkey and trafficked thru Manhattan. A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg didn’t supply additional main points of the investigation.

The bust referred to as “Portrait of a Lady” was once got in 1966 via the Worcester Art Museum about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Boston. The seizure comes weeks after the Manhattan district lawyer’s place of work seized a statue concept to painting the Roman emperor and thinker Marcus Aurelius from a Cleveland, Ohio, museum.

Worcester Art Museum officers stated in a observation that the bust taken from their ownership dates from A.D. 160 to 180 and is assumed to be a life-sized portrayal of a daughter of Marcus Aurelius or every other Roman emperor, Septimius Severus.

Museum officers stated they’d “limited information” in regards to the bust’s historical past after they got it just about six a long time in the past.

“We are very thankful for the new information provided to us,” stated Matthias Waschek, the museum’s director. “The ethical standards applicable to museums are much changed since the 1960s, and the Museum is committed to managing its collection consistent with modern ethical standards.”

The bust presentations a tender girl with a heavy-lidded gaze and hair sparsely combed into waves.

Marcus Aurelius dominated as Roman emperor from A.D. 161 to 180 and was once a Stoic thinker whose “Meditations” had been studied over the centuries. Septimius Severus’ reign from A.D. 193 to 211 was once marked via his efforts to transform the federal government into an army monarchy.

Turkey first made claims in regards to the Marcus Aurelius statue in 2012 when it launched an inventory of just about two dozen items in the Cleveland museum’s assortment that it stated have been looted from Bubon and different places. Museum officers stated on the time that Turkey had equipped no arduous proof of looting.