For 2,300 years, the painted vase has shown a scene involving the god Dionysus.
For just under 30 of those years, it's been in the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of Art—and for the last week or so, it's been stored in the evidence room of the Manhattan DA's office. At issue is the provenance of the item, known as a bell krater and attributed to the Greek artist Python: The museum acquired it in a Sotheby's auction for $90,000 in 1989, but investigators believe it was looted from an Italian grave in the 1970s, reports the New York Times.