10th C. Cambodian Sculpture Seized from Sotheby's in NY
Yesterday, federal agents in New York moved to seize a thousand-year-old statue from Sotheby’s that a civil complaints is alleging was stolen from a Cambodian temple.
“Federal agents in New York on Wednesday moved to seize a thousand-year-old Cambodian statue from Sotheby’s, alleging in a civil complaint that Sotheby’s had put the 10th-century figure of a mythological warrior up for auction despite knowing that it had been stolen from a temple … Archaeological experts cited by investigators said strong evidence indicates it was plundered during the upheavals of the Cambodian civil war in the 1970s. Its pedestal — and that of a matching statue now at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif. — was found at Koh Ker, a site about 80 miles northeast of Angkor Wat.” [New York Times]
“The Duryodhana statue is imbued with great meaning for the people of Cambodia and, as we allege, it was looted from the country during a period of upheaval and unrest, and found its way to the United States. With today’s action, we are taking an important step toward reuniting this ancient artifact with its rightful owners,” says Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. [US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York]
“The Sandstone Statue represents a part of Cambodia’s national cultural heritage. This artifact is not a souvenir to be sold to the highest bidder. Using our unique customs authority we are retrieving this stolen piece of cultural history and will return to its rightful owners – the people of Cambodia,” ICE-HSI Special Agent-in-Charge James T. Hayes, Jr. [US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York]
The Cambodian government has not made any claim on the statue at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California.
And this afternoon:
“Sotheby'[s asked a federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday to bar the government from seizing a 1,000-year-old Cambodian statue that Sotheby’s sought to auction last year for as much as $3 million.” [Artsbeat, NYTimes.com]
