Provenance Information

Oberingenieur Jakob Muller-Binder, Zurich, Switzerland, descended to Mr. Dennis Muller (Early 1960s to 1989); Mr. Dennis Muller, Switzerland (1989 to at least 1996); F.A.C. Kunsthandel (Wolfgang Wilhelm), Frankfurt, Germany, sold to Mrs. Barbara S. Robinson (2007); Barbara S. Robinson, Cleveland, OH (2007-2023); gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art (2023)

Exhibition Information

Long-term loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2020-2023.

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The 2007 invoice from F.A.C. Kunsthandel states that the plaque was acquired in the early 1960s, though without further details regarding place or vendor. More than 5000 plaques of this type, mostly fragmentary, are housed in the museums of Reggio Calabria and Locri in South Italy, primarily from excavations of the sanctuary of Persephone at Locri Epizephirii carried out in the early twentieth century. But numerous examples reached other museums and the art market prior to these excavations, and without evidence contrary to that stated on the 2007 invoice, an informed judgment can be made that this plaque was likely out of its country of modern discovery prior to 1970. In addition, an exception to 1970 can be made for this object because it was expected as a gift or bequest prior to 2008. This is confirmed by a letter from the attorney of Barbara S. Robinson (now in museum files) attesting to Mrs. Robinson’s intent, memorialized in estate planning documents by 2007, to donate her collection of antiquities to the Cleveland Museum of Art following her death. This plaque is the only one of its type in the CMA collection.