Montreal Museum Piece Turns up on Market

relief -but is it real?

Lynda Alberston, 'A Persian soldier from Persepolis loses his second home' ARCA Blog October 9th 2016.

A sandstone bas-relief panel then-titled, "Head of a Guard" was stolen in September 2011 from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) and found in February 2014 in Edmonton. The Persian Achaemenid relief from Persepolis had been, at the time of its theft, part of the museum's permanent collection for decades [but ] has entered the commercial art market[...] the piece apparently didn't return to the museum's collection after all.

One reason might be that some of us think that it is extremely dubious: 'Montreal "Achaemenid" Relief Recovered '  PACHI Thursday, 16 February 2014; 'Questions About Two Bearded Blokes: The Montreal Thefts' PACHI Thursday, 16 February 2014. But of course the fact that it was exhibited in a major museum gives it the air of legitimacy. Caveat emptor, I'd say.