A 2,700-year-old antique has been returned to the Iraqi government.

FBI agents in Washington, D.C. have returned a stolen artifact to the Iraqi government. The artifact, known as “Furniture Fitting with Sphinx Trampling a Youth,” was believed to have been stolen from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in 2003. It had been on exhibit at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta.

The Atlanta-based FBI agents had been investigating the art crime since January 2022. On March 8, in a ceremony at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington D.C., a special agent with the FBI Art Crime Team presented the artifact to the Iraqi charge’ d’affaires for repatriation.

While acknowledging that there was no ill intent on the part of Emory University, the FBI agents were pleased to return this small part of history back to Iraq. The FBI works diligently with law enforcement partners worldwide to repatriate artifacts to their rightful owners.

The artifact, dating back to the Iron Age and 7th century BC, measures only two and a quarter inches tall by one and a half inches wide. It is made of ivory, pigment, and gold leaf.

Agents believe the artifact was looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003. The Carlos Museum purchased it in 2006 from a third party who presented a fake provenance. The artifact was said to have entered the United States in 1969 according to the provenance shown to administrators at the Carlos Museum. However, after consulting with experts, including one who had taken photographs of the item at the Baghdad Museum in 1983, agents determined that the artifact rightfully belonged to Iraq.

In December 2022, the Carlos Museum cooperated with the FBI, voluntarily handing over the artifact to FBI Atlanta agents. The FBI Atlanta Field Office expressed gratitude to the Carlos Museum for their cooperation in the matter.

The FBI also extended thanks to historians from the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, who provided valuable assistance in confirming the authenticity of the artifact. The protection of the world’s cultural heritage is a priority for the U.S. government, and the FBI Atlanta Field Office is honored to have played a role in returning this important piece of cultural heritage to the people of Iraq.

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