A stolen 14th century illustration of a Roman Catholic saint was returned on Friday to Italy, where it will be put in a museum, U.S. Customs officials said.
The image, an ink, tempera and gold image of a haloed Saint Lucy, had spent decades at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which bought it in good faith in 1952, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said in a statement.
It said the artifact was turned over in a ceremony at the Italian Embassy.
The Cleveland leaf, which measures about 17.4 inches (44.3 cm) by 13.9 inches (35.2 cm), was taken from a page in an illuminated parchment antiphonary, a type of hymnal, created around 1340. Known as Codex D, the manuscript is in a museum in Castelfiorentino, near Florence.
The customs agency did not say how or when the leaf had been stolen.
In addition to the manuscript leaf, U.S. officials repatriated a 19th century painting by artist Consalvo Carelli that had been stolen from a home in Naples in 2001.
