Note 142 — Chapter II · SCULPTURE.

We take this transcription from a note sent by Dr. Birch to the Athenæum (14 July, 1877), when the ivory in question, together with many more objects, was stolen from the British Museum. It was offered by the thief, in the first place, to M. de Longpérier, who thought it a forgery, and afterwards to the keeper of the Hague Museum, who, put on his guard by the publicity which by that time had been given to the theft, detained the piece and restored it to its legitimate owners.