New York Supreme Court Orders Return of Achaemenid Artifact to Iran

A New York Supreme Court judge ruled on Monday, July 23, that a bas-relief depicting an Achaemenid soldier should be returned to Iran. According to the New York Times, this stone relief, dating back to approximately 500 BC, was seized last October by agents from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office from an art exhibition called "Park Avenue Armory" that intended to auction the Achaemenid piece for $1.2 million. Researchers stated that this Achaemenid artifact was illegally taken from Iran in 1936 and was stolen from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada in 2011. Reports indicate that the court will not pursue the two buyers of the piece. Rupert Wace, a well-known antiquities dealer, and his partner Sam Fagg claimed they legally purchased the ancient artifact from the Montreal museum's insurance company, but after investigations revealed its stolen status, they agreed to sign court documents regarding the piece. Mr. Wace had stated in an email last year during the seizure that researchers are well aware of this artwork and its 70-year history. The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled last March that Americans injured in the 1997 bombing in Jerusalem, who claim Iran's involvement in the attack, cannot seize Achaemenid tablets at the University of Chicago Museum to cover their $71.5 million damages. The Achaemenid tablets, which include over 30,000 tablets, were sent to the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute by ship in 1935 based on a government resolution and arrived there in 1937. It was intended that expert examinations and studies on these tablets would be conducted within three years and they would be returned to Iran. After translations and publications of some of these tablets by American experts, several were returned to Iran in three batches in 1948, 1971, and 2004, but this return process was halted due to a legal issue related to a terrorist attack in Jerusalem implicating Iran.