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https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/aug/03/national-gallery-of-australia-hands-back-ninth-century-cambodian-sculptures-it-believes-were-stolen>
"The National Gallery of Australia has agreed to hand back one of the
highlights of its Asian collection to the Cambodian government, a trio of
9th-century Cham sculptures, that it now believes were looted and illegally
sold by a notorious UK dealer, Douglas Latchford.
The astonishing story of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Padmapani and her
Attendants, which were purchased by the NGA for $US1.5m in 2011, reads like the
plot of an Indiana Jones movie.
It involves an army of looters digging at night for buried treasure among
temple ruins, priceless works of art smuggled through the jungle to Thailand, a
dealer who allegedly profited from the thefts while simultaneously being feted
as an expert in Asian art in the west, a daughter trying to make amends and a
determined American lawyer working to restore a country’s heritage.
Australia’s connection to this saga came to light when the National Gallery of
Australia undertook an extensive investigation into the provenance of the trio
of 1,000-year-old Cham bronze sculptures.
On Thursday the NGA announced these masterpieces of the Cham culture – which
once flourished in parts of modern Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos – would be
returned to Cambodia after it found, on the balance of probabilities, they had
been illegally excavated and exported."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
