Cypriot jug that predates Christianity to be returned to island

A “significant” jug which predates the Christian faith by hundreds of years is to be returned to Cyprus.

The jug, which dates back to about 750 BC, was discovered during an auction at The Cotswold Auction Company in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and withdrawn from sale when its importance was spotted by archaeological experts.

Marios Theocharous from the Cypriot government collected the ceramic jug, which is only 7cm high, earlier this month.

Returning it is part of a lengthy campaign by authorities on the island to bring back items “illegally removed” in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr Theocharous said the jug, known as a juglet due to its small size, was “significant” and “a piece of our collective memory”.

It is now at the Cypriot High Commission in London, where it will remain until it is taken back to the Mediterranean island to be – it is thought – displayed at a museum.

Niall Fry, saleroom manager at The Cotswold Auction House said: “As a company, we are committed to respecting the cultural heritage of other countries, as well as our own, and fully support the Cypriot government in its efforts to repatriate antiquities.

“There is no suggestion that the seller had done anything wrong – the jug may have been in the UK for decades or centuries and they would not have been aware of its legal status in Cyprus.”

The Cypriot government is in the process of recovering antiques which reflect the island’s heritage.

On 3 December 2024, the government said on its website it had repatriated more than 100 items from the United Kingdom, after they had been “illegally removed from Cyprus during the 1960s and 1970s”.

These included Neolithic stone stools dating back to the seventh or sixth millennium BC and pottery dating back to the Early Bronze Age, about 2,000 BC.