"Getty Museum restitutes ancient bronze head to Turkey" by Elena Goukassian #TheArtNewspaper
"Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum will return an ancient bronze sculpture of a young man’s head to Turkey after an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office revealed that it had been looted in the 1960s.
Head From a Statue of a Youth (1st century BC-1st century AD), a bronze head with curly hair and light stubble on the chin, is believed to have been created as a separate cast from the rest of a now-lost life-size body that has never been identified. Researchers know the figure was once whole, because the neck has “evidence of ancient joins on the interior along the break”, according to a press release
, and the eyes—now mere holes in the metal—were “once inlaid with an unknown material”."
THE CONSERVATION OF CAVE 85 AT THE MOGAO GROTTOES, DUNHUANG by Lori Wong and
Neville Agnew (editors, 2013).
"The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes—collectively known as the Silk Road—that once linked China with the West. Founded by a Buddhist monk in the late fourth century, Mogao flourished over the following millennium, as monks, local rulers, and travelers commissioned hundreds of cave temples cut into a mile-long rock cliff and adorned them with vibrant murals. More than 490 decorated grottoes remain, containing thousands of sculptures and some 45,000 square meters of wall paintings, making Mogao one of the world's most significant sites of Buddhist art."