Hard on the heels of an agreement last May to return a looted Greek bronze head to the Republic of Türkiye, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has announced plans to return another looted artefact to that country. This time, the object is an ancient bronze funerary couch, known as a kline.

Used as a day bed for banqueting, the couch is described by the Museum as a rare surviving example of ancient luxury furniture, known largely otherwise from depictions on wall paintings and pottery. With legs and rails of cast bronze over an iron framework, the couch bears decorative details that suggest Lydian or East Greek manufacture and a date of around 530 BC.

Acquired by the Museum in 1982, research conducted by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism working closely with the Getty determined that provenance information provided by the Swiss dealer to the Museum was false. The couch had not been, as described to the Getty, held in European collections since the 1920s. Instead, it had been illegally excavated in the early 1980s from an ancient tomb in the region of modern-day Manisa.

“The bronze couch is a rare archaeological artifact that was unlawfully taken from its home. Thanks to the renewed dialogue between Türkiye and the Getty Museum, it will now be preserved where it belongs.”

Gokhan Yazgi, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism

The couch’s provenance was determined after detailed analysis of surviving fragments of linen attached to the object. “With this return, we are pleased to bring to a conclusion a long-running investigation of the couch’s origins by Turkish and American scholars,” said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle, Director of the Getty Museum. “Their research helped recover the archaeological and historical context for this exceptional object, while Getty conservators analyzed its materials and manufacturing technique.”

While contentious objects in the Getty collection remain in dispute (in particular, a long-running restitution saga over the Getty’s Greek bronze statue known as 'Victorious Youth'), there’s no doubting that steps are being taken by the Museum to return those contested objects where evidence of looting is overwhelming.

“Türkiye and the Getty Museum may hold differing positions on the matter of return and restitution,” said Gokhan Yazgi. “However, the announcement today can be seen as a sign of closer cooperation in the future toward the shared goal of combating the illicit trafficking of antiquities. I believe both sides are now much closer to understanding each other’s perspectives.”

Photo: Funerary couch. Lydian or East Greek, about 530 BC. Inventory No. 82.AC.94

Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum