The Met to return looted ancient artworks to Thailand and Cambodia

New York’s Metropolitan Museum will return 16 pieces of ancient art to Thailand and Cambodia after determining it had been illegally looted.

The repatriation was announced on Friday by the museum and federal prosecutors in New York.

The art came from Douglas Latchford, a British art dealer who was charged in 2019 with “running a vast antiquities trafficking network” in southeast Asia.

Prosecutors say the decision to return it was made voluntarily by the museum.

“As demonstrated with today’s announcement, pieces linked to the investigation of Douglas Latchford continue to reveal themselves,” US Homeland Security Special Agent Erin Keegan said in a statement on Friday.

She added that the artworks “were shamelessly stolen”.

Fourteen Khmer sculptures will be sent to Cambodia and two to Thailand.

Max Hollein, the Met’s director, said in a separate statement that the museum has been “diligently working with Cambodia and the US Attorney’s Office for years to resolve questions regarding these works of art”.

“New information that arose from this process made it clear that we should initiate the return of this group of sculptures.”

He added that the museum is “committed to pursuing partnerships and collaborations with Cambodia and Thailand that will advance the world’s understanding and appreciation of Khmer art, and we look forward to embarking on this new chapter together”.

The art is from the 9th to 14th Centuries, during the Angkorian period, and reflects both Buddhist and Hindu influences, according to the museum.

Dozens of artworks stolen by Latchford, who died in 2020 while facing the US charges, have been traced and recovered by investigators across the US and UK in the last decade.

The works were stolen during times of significant political upheaval in Cambodia and Thailand.

Much of the looting took place over a three-decade period of civil war and strife between the mid-1960s to the late-1990s when the Khmer Rouge regime held power.

In 2013, the Met returned two other objects to Cambodia.

courtesy : bbc