The museum took the initiative to investigate the piece's
origins after seeing fragments in a publication that could join
to the head, which dates to about 300 or 400 B.C., according to
Timothy Potts, the museum's director. The Getty acquired the
piece in 1985, and Potts said it's believed it was taken from
the Morgantina Archaeological Park in Italy in the 1970s. The
original location of the head was the site of the sanctuary of
Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest, whose daughter
Persephone was married to Hades. The Getty purchased the piece
from New York collector Maurice Tempelsman. It is among more
than 40 pieces the museum has returned to Greece and Italy in
recent years. The terra-cotta body of Hades is undergoing an
extensive restoration at the Museo Archeologico in the Italian
city of Aidone. The head will be on view at the Getty Villa from
April 3 to Aug. 19. It then travels to the Cleveland Museum of
Art for display from fall until January 2014 before appearing in
February at the Palazzo Ajuta