The items were part of a haul of looted antiquities that were smuggled out of the country and put up for sale on the international art market.

An incantation bowl, one of two stolen artefacts in the haul, is engraved in Aramaic and is believed to have been looted from an archaeological site in southern Iraq.

It was returned yesterday, with an 11th-century manuscript, was returned at a ceremony in the Iraqi Embassy “I am delighted to receive this. We will keep it in a safe place and return it to the people of Iraq,” Mr Zebari said.

The book, valued at £250,000, is a medical journal written by the Arab physician Abu Bakr Muhammad Zakariya al-Razi and published in Baghdad in 1013. It was one of hundreds of books stolen from the Islamic library in Mosul.

Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley, who heads the Arts and Antiques Unit at Scotland Yard, said that the items were handed in by an auction house and an art dealer in London.

Times Recommends

• Appalachian voters lean towards Obama
• Iraq: Battle for business begins
• 50 dead in seven days in Mexico's drugs war