US and Cambodian officials Monday called on museums and private collectors to investigate the origins of Khmer art to find out if it was looted, and officials celebrated the return of 30 antiquities to Cambodia. The event showed that such theft was prevalent.
Behind officials are seven of the country’s ancient heritage sites, including a 10th-century sandstone statue known as the “Peacock Skanda,” which investigators say was stolen from a temple by Khmer Rouge conscripts and would-be looters. Masterpieces lined up. 1997.
The Cambodian government also welcomes a five-foot-tall sculpture of a Hindu deity. Ganeshabut the four-ton sculpture was only represented on a poster on Monday because it threatened to destroy an elevator in the Manhattan office of the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Both objects are said to have been looted from the ruins of Koh Kay, the capital of the ancient Khmer Empire.
According to officials, all the antiquities being repatriated have been trafficked by organized looting networks to Western art through British art dealer and Cambodian antiquities collector Douglas AJ Latchford. that are sold in the market. He passed away in his 2020. It had been less than a year since he was charged with smuggling looted artifacts and covering up a tainted history by forging documents to sell them.
“This is like the soul of our culture coming back to our people,” Cambodia’s ambassador to the United States, Keo Chia, said at a news conference on Monday.
The artifacts were returned as part of an investigation into Mr. Ratchford by federal prosecutors in New York and the Department of Homeland Security. They were seized from two of his personal and American museums who owned the artifact. All three cooperated with investigators.
“We applaud individuals and institutions who have decided to do the right thing,” said Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, adding, “After learning about the origins of the antiquities they own. , voluntarily decided to return those works to their homeland.”
The owner of “Skanda on a Peacock,” which depicts the Hindu god Skanda riding a bird, inherited the sculpture from a collector who bought it from Mr. Ratchford in 2000 for $1.5 million, according to court documents. An undisclosed heir agreed to relinquish ownership of the artifact to federal authorities.
Twenty-five of the antiquities returned to Cambodia were handed over by Internet pioneer and Netscape founder James H. Clarke. We offer penthouses in Miami Beach.
“I remember walking by my apartment one day and seeing these things and thinking, ‘It’s supposed to be in a museum, not in private hands,'” Clark said Monday. “And that’s where they are.”
Federal officials say Mr Ratchford tricked Mr Clark into believing the artifacts were being sold legally, and after showing evidence to the contrary, Mr Clark agreed to turn over the 35 items. Stated. These items include an elephant-headed Ganesha, a bronze seated Buddha, and a sandstone Buddha.
The 30 artifacts cited Monday are expected to arrive in Cambodia by October, after which the government hopes to hold a nationwide celebration to mark their return, a country representative said. Attorney Bradley J. Gordon said. Government officials said it would eventually be opened to the public.
Four of the antiquities are Denver Art MuseumThe museum declined to comment on the ceremony, but said it was currently investigating two objects from Thailand related to Mr Ratchford.
Criminal cases against Mr. Ratchford were dismissed after his death. During his lifetime, Mr. Ratchford, who had been commended by the Cambodian government for his scholarship on Khmer art and his contribution to the National Museum, said that Westerners who purchased such antiques and sold or donated them to the museum could use them to their future potential. He claimed that he was rescuing him from sex. destruction.
Monday’s ceremony was attended by a delegation of Cambodian officials who traveled across the United States over 10 days, visiting museums in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York, seeking documents related to the institution’s Khmer collections.
Their effort is part of a global effort to recover hundreds of Khmer and pre-Khmer artifacts spread around the world as a result of decades of looting. Their mission was greatly facilitated with the help of a former Khmer Rouge conscript, a Cambodian man named Toek Tik, who, as a way of atonement for his now regrettable actions, relented to his polygamy. He has disclosed details of his looting career to authorities.
Sopheap Meas, Deputy Director of Antiquities Management at Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Arts, said he saw many unique objects during his travels that he believed should never have left Cambodia.
“Museums have the burden of proving that they have a legal right to own Cambodian national treasures,” she said.
According to both U.S. and Cambodian officials, the overall message of the event is that even if these objects are repatriated, many of their illicit origins end up in the hands of private collectors and museums. Mr. Williams urged “anyone who believes they have obtained antiquities in Cambodia or elsewhere illegally to come forward.”
“We know the problem is much more serious than a single human activity,” Chea said.
