The psykter, attributed to the so-called Kleophrades Painter, and the loutrophoros, attributed to the legendary Darius Painter, will remain at the museum for four years as part of a research program in which both the Italian government and the museum will take part, the university said.  Princeton students will also be given access to excavations at archaeological sites in Italy to carry out research.  “What’s unique about this agreement is that it is calibrated to favor cultural exchanges,” Mr. Fiorilli said. “It’s the right accord for a university. We hope both sides will profit from it.”  Susan Taylor, director of the Princeton museum, said the agreement supported the museum’s research and educational mission and allowed it to “have unprecedented access, on a long-term loan basis, to additional material” from Italy. The museum will receive loans of “works of art of great significance and cultural importance,” the statement said.  The Princeton deal is the fourth that Italy has reached since last year with an American museum. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles agreed to return 40 pieces to Italy in August, and accords were brokered last year with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  They are a coda to an aggressive campaign that Italy has waged in recent years to reclaim works of art that it asserts were clandestinely looted from Italian soil and smuggled abroad. Negotiations continue with private collectors of antiquities in the United States, as well as museums in Europe.  This is not the first time that the Princeton museum has dealt with Italian ownership claims. In 2002 it returned an ancient Roman sculptural relief to Italy after its own research revealed that it had been illegally exported.  “Our aim has not been to get objects back but to develop cooperation and fight clandestine excavations,” Mr. Fiorilli said. “We hope the Princeton museum will join us in this fight.”  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B7 of the New York edition with the headline: Princeton To Return Disputed Art to Italy. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Princeton University announced on Friday that its art museum had reached an agreement to return eight ancient works to Italy that the Italian government says were looted and illicitly exported.