Met Museum to Return Griffin Head to Greece as Part of Loan Agreement

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will repatriate a 7th-century bronze head donated by a former trustee head to Greece following a review internally of it’s provenance records

The museum’s researchers concluded it was likely illegally removed from the Archaeological Museum of Olympia in the 1930s, though details of the removal aren’t known.

The restitution is scheduled to take place on Tuesday in New York, where Greece’s Culture Minister Lina Mendoni will officially receive the artifact and its legal title from the Met Director Max Hollein. Under the exchange agreement, Greece will loan the head back for an exhibition at the museum next year, though further details on the plans for the display have not been disclosed.

The piece, originally discovered in Olympia in southern Greece in 1914, went missing before resurfacing in 1948 at New York’s Joseph Brummer Gallery. A former Met trustee and New York financier Walter C. Baker, who served on the museum’s budget committee, gave it to the Met in 1972. Greek authorities and the Met reviewed its records, which researchers found indicate the the object lacked a legal export at the time it was gifted.

The Met has been subject to increased scrutiny of its collection amid pressure on museums with major classics departments to return centuries old artifacts that have gaps in their provenance records. Last year, the museum expanded its provenance research division, appointing the former head of restitution at Sotheby’s, Lucian Simmons, to lead internal reviews of objects with flagged ownership records.

According to the New York Times, Mendoni’s New York visit also included discussions with State Department officials on supporting protections for Greek cultural heritage. She also recently oversaw the return of an ancient lekythos from a private family-run Pennsylvania museum that has a collection of religious artifacts. Talks are underway for a major Greek antiquities exhibition tied to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Greek and the U.S. officials are also negotiating the renewal of a 2011 agreement aimed at addressing antiquities trafficking. The agreement is set to expire in 2026.