Well, this got kinda embarrassing. The folks running Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) have made the painful decision to return a $899,000 sculpture to the Indian authorities after finding out that it was a stolen item. Damn.
After paying US$650,000 to a New York-based dealer Art of the Past for the 11th-century bronze sculpture of Hindu goddess Uma Parameshvari, the dealer — Subhash Kapoor — confessed that his goods were taken without approval from temples in India.
Kapoor had been arrested back in 2011 on charges of receiving stolen artifacts looted from disused temples in southern India, including the 900-year-old Sripuranthan Natarajan idol which was sold to the National Gallery of Australia for US$5.1 million.
It seems that ACM was just another victim of Art of the Past’s ruse. Aaron Freedman, manager of Kapoor’s antiquities gallery, specifically identified ACM’s sculpture as one of the 150 stolen artifacts.
Though initially finding no conclusive proof that the sculpture was stolen from a Shiva temple in Tamil Nadu, India, the museum finally relented and will accede to the Archaeological Survey of India’s request for it to be returned to India.
According to Channel NewsAsia, ACM was not aware that they were buying a stolen artifact during the transactions with Art of the Past, and will be commencing legal proceedings to demand compensation from the errant dealers.
Photo: ACM Facebook page
