[MSN] ATHENS-An ancient funerary vase has been repatriated to Greece after being illegally exported by a Swiss art dealer.

[MSN]

Ancient Vase Returns to Greece
By ARTINFO

ATHENS-An ancient funerary vase has been repatriated to Greece after being
illegally exported by a Swiss art dealer, Agence France-Presse reports.
Known as a lecythus, the more than three-foot-high decorative vase dating
from the fourth century B.C. features a banquet scene with women greeting
one another.

A Swiss antiquarian was forced to return the vase after he tried to sell it
at auction in Maastricht in 2007. It had been identified from photographs
taken from suspected antiquities smugglers in a previous raid. 

Greece, which has seen its rich holdings of antiquities looted over the past
200 years, has recently increased efforts to take back items illegally
exported abroad, including some in important museums and private
collections. Greece and Switzerland signed an agreement last May binding
both countries to help each other locate and return illegally exported
artifacts.

http://www.artinfo.com/