The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is returning a group of lifesize terracotta statues, dating back to between 350 and 300BC, and four other objects to Rome after an investigation concluded the relics had been stolen and smuggled out of Italy.
The three statues, known as Orpheus and the Sirens, have been removed from display at the museum and are being prepared for transport back to Rome in September.
The set of statues, which depict a seated man and two mythical sirens, was bought by John Paul Getty from a now defunct private bank in Switzerland in 1976.
They are believed to have originated from the Taranto area in the southern Italian region of Puglia, and since 2006 have been on a list of stolen artefacts that Italy has been seeking to reclaim possession of.
The museum said in a statement that it determined the items must be returned to Rome following an investigation carried out by Matthew Bogdanos, who heads the antiquities trafficking unit of Manhattan’s district attorney office.