Amsterdam museum returns 2,300-year-old looted terracotta vase to Sicily after wedding photograph solves provenance
The Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam has handed over a third-century BC Centuripe pyxis to Sicilian authorities, completing a voluntary restitution process after a 1976 wedding photograph proved the artefact had been looted.
Voluntary restitution ceremony in Amsterdam
On 7 October 2026, the Allard Pierson Museum at the University of Amsterdam handed over an ancient terracotta pyxis to Italian officials during a ceremony in Amsterdam. The visiting Italian delegation included Sicily's regional councillor for cultural heritage Francesco Paolo Scarpinato, department director-general Mario La Rocca, and Lieutenant Vincenzo De Felice from the Carabinieri cultural heritage protection unit in Palermo. Dutch ambassador for international cultural cooperation Daniel Stork and Italian ambassador to the Netherlands Augusto Massari also attended the official event. The university institution agreed to return the vessel voluntarily after archival evidence confirmed that tombaroli had looted it from an ancient Sicilian tomb.
Carlos Reijnen, director of the Allard Pierson and the University of Amsterdam heritage collections, explained the institution's position on the return.
We see this return not as a loss, but as taking our responsibility.
Photographic discovery from a wedding roll
The breakthrough in establishing the artefact's provenance came from the archive of a deceased photographer in Centuripe, who was the nephew of a regional grave robber. Members of the Centuripe historical society reviewed a roll of film containing negatives of illegal excavation pits alongside photographs of the pyxis. While the negatives lacked written timestamps, the roll also captured scenes from a local wedding.
Researchers tracked down one of the guests depicted in the photographs, who confirmed that the marriage took place in 1976. This confirmation proved that the pyxis remained in Sicily at least six years after the adoption of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the illicit transfer of cultural property. The historical society matched the photographed vase with the piece in Amsterdam and submitted the findings to Italian prosecutors, who approached Dutch authorities in 2017.
- UNESCO drafts Convention on illicit cultural property trade
- Photographer records looted pyxis on negative roll alongside local wedding
- Allard Pierson acquires the vessel at TEFAF Maastricht from Swiss dealer
- Netherlands formally ratifies the 1970 UNESCO Convention
- Italian authorities submit restitution request to Allard Pierson
- Museum hands over pyxis to Sicilian officials during ceremony in Amsterdam
Acquisition history and legal background
The Allard Pierson acquired the pyxis in 1997 at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht from Swiss dealer Herbert Cahn, owner of H.A.C. Kunst der Antike. Cahn stated that the vessel had been held in private Swiss collections before 1970, which would have complied with international export guidelines. The Netherlands only ratified the 1970 UNESCO treaty in 2009, incorporating its provisions into the Dutch Heritage Act in 2016 without retroactive effect, meaning the 1997 purchase remained legally valid under Dutch civil law.
Despite the absence of a legal obligation to surrender the artefact, museum officials determined that retention was ethically incompatible with university standards. Rogier Kalkers, head of provenance research at the Allard Pierson, outlined the reasoning behind the decision.
We felt it was ethically wrong to keep the pyxis, and so we proceeded with restitution.
Artistic significance and return to Centuripe
Measuring 49 centimetres in height with its foot and lid, the pyxis dates to around 300 BC from the Hellenistic settlement of Centuripe southwest of Mount Etna. The vessel features a polychrome wedding scene against a black background depicting a bride at an altar, a groom beneath a canopy, an Eros figure, and the god Apollo, while the lid displays two erotes and a swan above a gold-painted leaf-and-tongue relief. Worldwide, between 150 and 200 pieces of Centuripe pottery survive, their unusually thin terracotta walls reflecting their exclusive purpose as funerary offerings. The pyxis will go on permanent exhibition at the regional museum in Centuripe, joining a terracotta bowl recovered in 2009 after being offered on eBay by an Australian gallery.
Francesco Paolo Scarpinato commented on the institutional agreement during the ceremony.
I would like to thank the university for this act of great generosity and responsibility that marks an important step in relations of collaboration between the Netherlands and Sicily.
