Draped Male Figure, previously The Emperor as Philosopher
The Cleveland Museum of Art is sending a Roman bronze statue back to Turkey after finally acknowledging the work was likely looted.
In September 2023, I first wrote about how the Cleveland Museum of Art became the target of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office because of a bronze statue in its Greco-Roman collection. The museum initially acquired the work in 1986, and for decades, it was known by the name The Emperor as Philosopher, possibly Marcus Aurelius. It was one of the highlights of the museum’s antiquities collection. In 2012, the Turkish government first notified American authorities that the statue was likely stolen from an archaeological site and trafficked out of the country in the 1960s. The ancient city of Bubon in southwestern Turkey was first excavated by local farmers in 1966. It would be nearly a year before Turkish authorities realized that artifacts were being removed from the site and sold to smugglers. The specific structure from which many artifacts were taken was known as the Sebasteion, a sort of terrace overlooking the city’s main forum used as a local shrine to the emperors.
As part of an investigation into the international smuggling operation that trafficked the Bubon bronzes from Turkey to the United States, the Manhattan DA’s office identified several other bronzes in American museums linked to the same site. They have since confiscated works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fordham University. The Cleveland Museum had the opportunity to turn over the statue voluntarily but refused. They went so far as to modify the work’s information on their website to fit a narrative allowing them to keep the statue. The museum renamed the work Draped Male Figure and deleted any reference to its place of origin. A New York judge later issued a warrant allowing the work to be seized, leading the Cleveland Museum to file a lawsuit contesting the seizure. And now, nearly eighteen months later, the museum now acquiesces and renounces all claims to the statue.
Part of the negotiations between the Cleveland Museum and the Manhattan DA’s office involved further study of the sculpture to determine its place of origin more definitively. Specialists have since run tests on the statute, which have revealed new information about the work. While the statue was initially believed to depict the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the robes of a philosopher, new research shows that may not be true. Antiquarians initially suspected the headless statue depicted the emperor and Stoic philosopher because of an empty plinth bearing Marcus Aurelius’s name. However, after studying the statue, specialists now see that the pegs in its feet meant to anchor the work to its base do not match the holes on the Marcus Aurelius plinth. However, they match a different plinth that lacks any markings or inscriptions.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has now repatriated a total of fifteen objects looted from the Bubon site, collectively worth around $100 million. The Cleveland Museum will continue exhibiting the statue before it is officially repatriated to Turkey.