In a major victory for heritage restitution, the J. Paul Getty Museum has formally repatriated a collection of ten intricate gold ornaments dating back to the 4th century BCE. The items, identified as Phrygian craftsmanship from the Anatolian highlands, were determined to have been illegally excavated and smuggled out of the country in the late 1960s.
The collection includes a ceremonial pectoral and several matching earrings featuring fine granulation and filigree work. This handover follows a three-year provenance investigation conducted jointly by the museum and Turkish archaeological authorities, marking a new era of cooperation between the Getty and the Republic of Turkey.