ABOVE: a funerary wreath, circa 320-300 BCE, now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum. But will it stay there?

Smelling blood in the water, the Greeks have pounced on the J. Paul Getty Museum, charging that the museum has four looted antiquities in its collection, including a gold funerary wreath, above. The Getty returned three items to the Italians last month, so the institution must seem ripe for the plucking from Greece’s perspective. Hammered by a public relations fiasco at home, and with the Italians putting the screws to former Getty curator Marion True in Europe, the museum is undoubtedly likely to take those claims more seriously now than it would have a few years ago.

Anyway, the Greek ministry of culture said today that it plans to rev up its legal team to seek the return of the four pieces, three of which were purchased for $5.2 million in 1993 and the fourth of which was apparently purchased by J. Paul Getty himself in the 50s. This all seems to point to one important lesson for today’s antiquities curators: don’t buy Iraqi artifacts from the back of a pickup truck anytime soon. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

LINK: CBC > Greece to force legal claim on Getty museum