London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has introduced the return of a marble head of the Greek god Eros to Turkey. It has now been reattached to an vital Third-century AD sarcophagus on the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. This could resolve a restitution challenge that has been mentioned for almost 90 years.
In 1882, Charles Wilson, the British navy consul common in Anatolia, found a extremely ornate Roman sarcophagus at Sidamaria, in Karaman province, central Turkey. It turned out to be one of many largest and most interesting from the traditional world.
Wilson hoped to ship the sarcophagus to the UK, however within the meantime he reburied it. Nevertheless, he took the life-size head of a kid, representing Eros (the Greek god of affection), which appears to have grow to be indifferent from its physique in one of many scenes on the sarcophagus. Wilson by no means managed to ship the buried sarcophagus, which was rediscovered in 1898 after which delivered to Istanbul.
The carved marble head of Eros (Third century AD), excavated in Turkey in 1882 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In 1883 Wilson had loaned the pinnacle of Eros to the V&A (then often called the South Kensington Museum), writing that “I’m making an attempt to safe the [whole] sarcophagus for England and may want the pinnacle finally to go to whoever secures the sarcophagus.” His daughter transformed the mortgage into a present in 1933.
A yr later the V&A thought-about returning the pinnacle to Turkey, in alternate for a Byzantine marble sculpture. However the V&A’s director on the time, Eric Maclagan, admitted that this may “increase the issue of doable repercussions, notably with regard to the Elgin Marbles [at the British Museum], however I believe we may justify ourselves by mentioning that this can be a query of a single head lacking from a big monument, of far more worth if changed than if exhibited by itself”.
Though the UK authorities agreed in 1934 to permit the V&A to return the pinnacle, in the long run the museum simply supplied a plaster solid. Since a minimum of the late twentieth century the unique head has been in storage in London.
The pinnacle reattached to its sarcophagus on the Istanbul Archaeological Museum © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In 2005, when The Artwork Newspaper reported that Turkey’s authorities was claiming the pinnacle, the V&A’s curator Paul Williamson instructed us that his museum was “prepared to ship the pinnacle again to Turkey on long-term mortgage, however settlement has not but been reached on the circumstances”. Negotiations had been as soon as once more renewed in 2010.
Twelve years later success has been achieved. Though the V&A and Turkey’s ministry of tradition and tourism describe the association as “a cultural partnership”, it’s successfully a mortgage. The preliminary interval is for six years, which is prone to be periodically renewed. With Turkey’s signature on the mortgage association, it now acknowledges the V&A’s authorized possession.
Some conservation work was finished on the pinnacle of Eros on the V&A this spring and an outdated metallic dowel was eliminated. The pinnacle was then flown to Istanbul, the place a joint workforce of conservators connected a stainless-steel dowel. A reversible adhesive was utilized to the neck of the pinnacle and gaps alongside the neck joint had been filed with a fixture of marble powder and a reversible resin. The marble head was additionally fastidiously cleaned to make sure that its floor matches extra carefully the remainder of the sarcophagus.
The Sidamara sarcophagus is on show once more as one of many highlights the Istanbul Archaeology Museum—with the god of affection having as soon as once more regained his head.
