It’s not often that visitors leave the Museum of Fine Arts with an object from its collection.
But Tuesday afternoon, two black luxury vehicles with diplomatic license plates pulled into the museum parking lot. Inside were representatives from the Republic of Turkey’s government. They were there to reclaim a 2,500-year-old piece of jewelry the MFA has possessed for more than four decades.
“The return of an object that was illegally removed from Türkiye is a symbolic moment that sends a strong message to the world, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation in the protection of cultural heritage,” Hilal Demirel, Turkish attaché for cultural affairs and promotion, said in a statement.
The gold and carnelian necklace is the latest artifact with uncertain ownership history that the museum has returned to its country of origin. The necklace, which dates back to 550-450 B.C., is believed to have been looted around 1976 from a tomb near the village of Kendirlik in western Turkey. The MFA acquired the piece from a London dealer in 1982.
“For many years, participants in the art trade really didn’t ask a lot of questions about provenance,” said Victoria Reed, senior curator for provenance at the MFA. “It’s not unusual in the 1980s for us to have acquired — for any museum to have acquired — something without really probing more deeply into its ownership history. And jewelry in particular is very, very hard to trace.”
The MFA said a scholar, who wished to remain anonymous, suggested the museum look into the origin of the necklace several years ago, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scholar noticed similarities between the necklace in the MFA collection and nearly identical beads and other fittings housed in an archeological museum in Manisa Province, Turkey. The Turkish museum recovered the necklace parts in 1976 during an excavation at Bintepeler in western Turkey, an archeological site made up of more than 100 burial mounds.
“The first thing we want to do is review what we know,” said Reed. “We want to look at our own internal paperwork. And for this particular object, we didn’t have any provenance information before we had purchased it in 1982.”
After conducting its own review of scholarly literature and documentation surrounding the site, the MFA concluded the necklace was likely stolen and that the Turkish government is the rightful owner. In the fall, the museum contacted the Turkish consulate in Boston to begin the repatriation process, which involved the Turkish government doing its own research and agreeing to terms of a legal transfer.
Previously, the MFA “knew kind of vaguely what area [the necklace] came from, but nothing about it in particular,” said Phoebe Segal, the MFA’s senior curator of ancient Greek and Roman art. Segal said the museum had concluded the necklace originated from Asia Minor (a vast area encapsulating a majority of modern-day Turkey) and that it was likely recovered from the grave of someone with wealth and status.
The necklace is only about 8 inches in length, a crucial detail that helped researchers with the MFA and the Turkish ministry of culture confirm that it had likely been smuggled out of the country decades ago.
“Most of the time, you don’t have the full item, actually, and we know that that’s true in this case,” said Segal, who added that ancient jewelry tends to be recovered in parts because of its fragility. “I think if we were approaching this now, we would say, ‘Why is this necklace so small?’”
It is unclear what plans the Turkish government has for the necklace. Last year, the MFA returned two fragmentary bronze sculptures from its collection to Turkey.
“This could be the beginning of something — it’s not necessarily one and done,” said Reed.
“What we’re trying to do is forge a relationship,” with source countries and the local consulate, she added.
Julian E.J. Sorapuru is an Arts Reporter at the Globe and can be reached at julian.sorapuru@globe.com. Follow him on X @JulianSorapuru.
