Impressive piece!
Closeup pics are here
http://www.repubblica.it/speciali/arte/gallerie/2012/07/19/foto/il_sarcofago_delle_quadrighe_di_aquino-39309698/1/For those who don't know
italian here's a
google translation of the article. (
Google still needs to
work on this)
ROME - After 21 years he returned to
Italy the famous "Sarcophagus of Quadrighe by Aquino," dating from the third century after
Christ. It
had been stolen in the
church of Madonna della Libera Aquino, in the province of Frosinone, in the night between 2 and 3 September 1991, after a foiled robbery attempt at the first few days earlier. The
Roman sarcophagus, one of the few examples made in alabaster reliefs showing a
chariot race in a
circus oval, and the customs value of several million euros, was on the list of the most wanted by
Italian authorities.
He landed at Fiumicino airport yesterday with a cargo flight from
London. He
had the seal of the
Italian Embassy in
London and was sealed in the midst of furniture and pieces of furniture sent to
Rome on behalf of the ambassador. To retrieve the
men were protecting archaeological heritage of the Group of the Guardia di Finanza, led by Major Massimo Rossi.
The sarcophagus
had been identified by the financiers in November last year. It was in the
hands of
Robert Hecht, the most famous and powerful American antiques (he sold to the Metropolitan Musem in
New York on Euphronios vase to one million euros, then returned
Italy in 2008), on trial in
Italy since 2005 on charges of being a smuggler of ancient artefacts.
Hecht had expressed the intention to cooperate with international authorities and
had begun to negotiate the return of some of the works in
his possession. Among these is the tomb of Aquino. But on February 9, aged 92, died at
his home in
Paris.
And 'then began a long negotiation with financiers of Major Smith's heirs
Hecht and foreign authorities, which ended yesterday in a legally classified as "spontaneous delivery" of the object. In excellent condition, the
coffin will be presented to the press this morning at 11 in a press conference.
The specimen was found in 800
Roman digging in the same
church where Aquino was used as an
altar until the night of the theft in 1991. At that time we were doing restoration
work and for many months the
church had been invaded by scaffolding outside and inside, and perhaps not properly policed. The theft, which the authors were never discovered, affected not only the tomb but also the two lions on which rested