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Museum to return 11th-century bronze sculpture to India

SINGAPORE — The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) will return an 11th-century bronze sculpture to India that it bought for US$650,000 (S$899,000) from a defunct New York gallery accused of an extensive antiquities-smuggling operation.

The 11th century bronze sculpture of Hindu goddess Uma Parameshvari. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum

The 11th century bronze sculpture of Hindu goddess Uma Parameshvari. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum

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SINGAPORE — The Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) will return an 11th-century bronze sculpture to India that it bought for US$650,000 (S$899,000) from a defunct New York gallery accused of an extensive antiquities-smuggling operation.

The sculpture of the Hindu goddess Uma Parameshvari was bought in 2007 from Art of the Past, whose owner Subhash Kapoor allegedly smuggled over US$100 million of stolen artefacts.

The ACM will also sue Art of the Past, which closed in 2012, Kapoor and/or its manager Aaron Freedman to demand compensation, it said in a statement today (Oct 19).

Word emerged from media reports in 2012 that the sculpture could be part of a criminal court case in New York concerning artefacts trafficked from India, said the ACM. The item was identified by Freedman in his confession as one of 150 stolen objects.

In January this year, the National Heritage Board invited the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) — the national agency of the Indian government overseeing its antiquities — to visit Singapore to discuss the sculpture. The ASI visited Singapore in May and the Singapore museum provided the Indian agency with information, such as documents for the procurement of the sculpture. ASI officials also viewed 29 other objects that the ACM had acquired from Art of the Past.

In June, ASI officially requested the return of the bronze sculpture.

The ACM said it carefully considered the request and reviewed the ASI’s information. While there is “no conclusive proof” the sculpture was stolen from a Shiva Temple in Tamil Nadu in India, the ACM noted Freedman’s confession, it said. “The sculpture was acquired in good faith and after strict due diligence. However, as its provenance is now found to be suspicious, ACM has decided to return the sculpture to India.”

The ACM has told the ASI and the Indian High Commission here of its intention. It is committed to acquiring works of art legally and ethically, and values strong ties with Indian cultural institutions, it added.

The ACM also revealed the price tag for the 30 objects purchased from Art of the Past between 1997 and 2010: About US$1.33 million. At the time of purchase, none of the items were in any national or international register of stolen objects.

None of the other 29 objects were cited in Mr Freedman’s confession, and no information has been forthcoming in other international registers of stolen artefacts or in courts of law, said the ACM.

Previous media reports had named another item the ACM had purchased in 2009 from Art of the Past — a gilded Virgin Mary and Christ altar from Goa in India — that may have been stolen. Museums elsewhere are also returning items acquired from the gallery to India. The Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio announced last month it would return four objects, including a bronze sculpture of the Hindu god Ganesha that is said to be nearly 1,000 years old.

Kapoor was arrested in Germany in October 2011 and extradited to India the following year, where he awaits trial. He reportedly also faces charges if extradited to the United States.

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