US RETURNS 30 ANTIQUITIES LOOTED FROM CAMBODIA, INDONESIA

Sat 27 April 2024:

Thirty antiquities that were stolen, sold, or illegally shifted by networks of American antiquities traders and traffickers have been returned to Cambodia and Indonesia, according to New York City prosecutors.

Alvin Bragg, the district attorney for Manhattan, stated in a statement on Friday that the artifacts were worth at $3 million in all.

New York is a major trafficking hub for stolen and looted antiquities, and several works have been seized in recent years from museums, including the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art, and private collectors.

Bragg accused American art dealers Subhash Kapoor and Nancy Wiener of participating in the illegal trafficking of the antiquities.

American-Indian Kapoor – who was accused of running a network that trafficked items stolen in Southeast Asia and put them on sale in his Manhattan gallery – has been the target of a United States justice investigation dubbed “Hidden Idol” for more than a decade.

Among the pieces returned include:

The Bronze Shiva Triad, which was smuggled out of Cambodia in the early 2000’s at the direction of Nancy WIENER. Beginning in the early 1990’s, WIENER dealt and trafficked in Southeast Asian antiquities, which she sold through her gallery in New York County. After the Triad arrived in Manhattan, WIENER and a convicted co-conspirator arranged for the piece to be restored and offered it for sale at her gallery in 2007. After failing to find a purchaser, WIENER donated the piece to the Denver Art Museum in December 2007, where it remained until it was recovered by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in June 2023. In 2016, the District Attorney’s Office arrested WIENER, and she was ultimately convicted and sentenced in 2021.
The Stone Relief, returned to Indonesia, stands out as a rare example of material culture from the Majapahit Empire (1293-1527), one of the most powerful and influential empires in Southeast Asia’s history. It was particularly well-known for its terracottas, making this Stone Relief a wonderfully rare example of Majapahit art. The relief depicts two seated royal figures, a lady and a man, surrounded by stylized foliage and holding round objects in their hands, which may be the Maja fruit for which the empire was named. The Stone Relief was recovered from a Kapoor-owned storage unit.

Kapoor was arrested in Germany in 2011 and then sent to India where he stood trial and was sentenced in November 2022 to 13 years in prison.

“We are continuing to investigate the wide-ranging trafficking networks that … target Southeast Asian antiquities,” Bragg said in the statement.

“There is clearly still much more work to do.”

Indonesia’s representative in New York, Consul General Winanto Adi, also praised Bragg’s effort, saying it served as a “precious gift” as the US and Indonesia celebrated the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

Wiener, who was sentenced in 2021 for trafficking in stolen works of art, sought to sell the bronze Shiva statute but eventually donated the piece to the Denver Museum of Art in Colorado in 2007.

The antiquity was seized by the New York courts in 2023.

Cambodia’s ambassador to the US, Keo Chhea, welcomed the return of the artefacts, calling it “a renewal of commitment between nations to safeguard the soul of our shared heritage”.

According to the the statement issued by New York’s district attorney, “Through this united effort, we ensure the preservation of our collective past for future generations.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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