Getty Returns More Greek Pieces

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At first sight this looks a bit like a publicity stunt in order to assuage public comment on the appointment of James Cuno as president of the Getty Trust. It appears that the situation is more complex, with the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Greek Ministry of Culture planning cultural exchanges of scientists and scholars in the fields of archaeology, conservation, art history and other fields which will no doubt greatly benefit the cultural heritage of currently cash-strapped Greece. As an initial gesture of goodwill, the Museum is returning two ancient artefacts from its collections to Greece.

The objects in question are fragments of a grave marker and a Greek language inscription, both acquired in the 1970s, according to the Getty. The museum said the grave-marker fragments have never gone on display in L.A. and that they are part of a larger work depicting female forms that dates from the 5th century BC. [...] the Greek-language inscription features 65 lines describing sacrifices and festivals celebrated in Thorikos, in southeast Attica. The work dates from 430 to 420 BC and is currently on view at the Getty Villa.

David Ng, 'Getty Museum to return additional ancient pieces to Greece', LA Times, September 22, 2011

See also Meg Lambert on the returns: 'The Getty returns two objects to Greece' (referring in turn to the Chasing Aphrodite blog)

David Gill also comments Getty returns antiquities to Greece

Vignette: Best of friends, James Cuno shakes hands heartily with the Greek Minister of Culture Pavlos Yeroulanos.