Updates on Two Ongoing Cases...

In regards to the Kapoor and Koh Ker statue cases that I originally assisted in tracking or exposing, here are some excellent updates recently reported. Once my doctorate is finished, I will return to more regular and weighty posts where possible, as well as new topics as they arise!

-Regarding Cambodia vs. Sotheby's, the case now seems to be locked in a legal battle between Sotheby's lawyers and the US District attorney. Sotheby's is still prohibited from moving or selling the piece, and the fight will resume on the 12th April. My colleague Jason Felch reports for the LA times here, and Chasing Aphrodite has a great summary here.

-Regarding the Kapoor case, the global network of his contacts and charitable (tax deductible?) "gifts" is slowly being revealed (see Chasing Aphrodite again here). I predict that as more investigations occur, more antiquities trafficked from outside Tamil Nadu and beyond will be revealed. Does this include the alleged smuggling of Buddhist statuary and antiquities out of Afghanistan, and might they have ended up in galleries such as this one, investigated by Australian authorities once before?

Particularly interesting to me is the presence of antiquities (in the LACMA collection and elsewhere?) gifted by Kapoor's brother Ramesh via his independent Kapoor Galleries. I personally visited this gallery as well in 2010 and can attest that it is smaller is size/scope than Art of the Past and allegedly trades more in historic pieces and paintings. Is Subhash Kapoor merely trying to foist blame onto his innocent siblings and daughter (here), or are they more connected than we realize?

Of course, an investigation is currently underway regarding the National Gallery of Australia's Shiva statue, one of 21 artifacts purchased from Kapoor (see photo above, © The Australian). Several press releases have occurred locally (here, here, and here). I can personally attest to having been briefly interviewed for Mrs. Boland's article in The Australian, but more relevant authorities as to the specific legal matters were also approached. An additional update as of August 6th is that the Art Gallery of NSW has also purchased from Kapoor and is now under investigation (see reporting here). Another relevant question is what will recently proposed Immunity from Seizure acts currently moving through the Australian Parliament mean for repatriation or prosecution? More developments on these cases and others will be broken or shared here as situations warrant.

The Kapoor Case Continues...

The latest new reports (here and here) regarding the extradition and trial of one Mr. Subash Kapoor (see photo at left) attest that prosecution has now begun. He is currently on trial in an Ariyalur courtroom for the specific charge of helping to illegally export 18 idols from Tamil Nadu, but he will apparently be interrogated for details regarding many other cases. Despite the very strict laws on the books regarding the private ownership (in India) and export of genuine archaeological or historic artifacts, and the requirement that any modern replicas be officially registered as such by local authorities before exportation, yet all involved in both supply and demand countries can attest that these laws are not enforceable enough.


Cases like Kapoor's (and that of one Mr. Ghiya, and the separate smuggling of the Sivapuram Nataraja bronze, both detailed in the article) make this all too apparent. The Indian Ministry of Culture continues to put out updated lists of high-profile antiquities of known or suspected illicit export, begging for their return from collectors or museums, but has had little luck, at least as of 2010. Perhaps some validly pre-date 1970 in exportation? Perhaps the Ministry drops the case at the first sign of objection from collectors or museum officials? Obtaining accurate information will be challenging. Perhaps what's now needed in a new ICOM Red List of Indian/South Asian cultural objects? This would at least provide Interpol and customs authorities one more weapon in this fight. I still feel that the arrest and trial of Kapoor will serve as something of a warning to other smugglers or would-be prominent dealers seeking to hide their role in the trade behind ownership of a glitzy gallery in a prominent demand country. Now the art, museum, and illicit antiquities research communities at large can only wait to see how the trial(s) unfold and what kind of justice is served. In this case at least, all roads eventually led to New York... 

And Now This...

Looks like Subash Kapoor will now be extradited from Germany to India to stand trial for at least one artifact (statuary) related smuggling charge. Primarily "panchaloha" statues (idols) such as the image at left. Three men from the Tamil Nadu police are apparently on their way to Germany to retrieve him as I write this. This is probably only the tip of the iceberg, both in relation to crimes that he personally connects to, as well as artifact smuggling from the region in general. Nevertheless, it should serve as a solid warning to others, especially transnational dealers in Indian antiquities, that they are not above the law. After being personally threatened by this man, or those working for him, vindication of this sort is welcome. Thanks go to Paul Barford for the tip off this morning!

Gandharan Antiquities Sting!

To further spread the word about the recent major antiquities sting in Karachi, please see this article. It appears that all come from the Northwest Frontier Province/Peshawar valley regions, and comprises mostly broken statuary and assorted figures of the Buddha. Most of the items derive from the Gandharan civilization and its regional centre of Texila, making them collectively over 2,000 years old. The photo at left shows just some of the seized material.

The artifacts were being transported in a large storage container that authorities confiscated from a truck driver hauling between Islamabad and Karachi. This is reminiscent of a previous (2005) smuggling attempt stopped in Karachi, in which 7,000 yr old artifacts were found in a crate apparently labeled as furniture. Fortunately, the authorities had the good sense to actually search the crates, just to be sure! What will happen to the artifacts now is unknown, especially as smuggling attempts of this scale suggest that security is lax. At the very least, they are off the market (e.g. this gallery?) and can perhaps be at least partially restored or repatriated. Professor Gill also reports on this incident here.

Tragedy in Mali...

Tragic news coming out of the northern Malian city of Timbuktu (see here and here) throws debates about heritage preservation in times of war or political uncertainty into new light. It appears that members of the newly victorious Ansar Dine Islamic extremist group, who recently staged a coup in Bamako and have "taken over" much of the north, decided to begin to manually destroy several ancient historic period tombs and shrines in early June.

Most of the damaged mausoleums and tombs in question are connected to the Sufi tradition and the ancient Ghanian, Malian, and Songhai Empires that collectively produced a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance, as well as numerous smaller surface sites, all now threatened with potential looting. Ironically, the ancient Sufi responsible for constructing some of these monuments are of the very same orders that helped spread Islam into Africa in the first place.

The attacks have, and continue to be, roundly condemned by local, African Union, and international politicians and governments. Some observers wonder if the recent move by UNESCO to place Timbuktu on the endangered heritage list was a catalyst for the raiding, but one Prof. Shamil Jeppie is quoted as saying "that is meaningless to Ansar Dine; what is UNESCO to them?" I agree. Even though Timbuktu has been sacked before in ancient times (kinda like Baghdad), it's the speed, pace, and targeted destruction of modern warfare, or looting driven by fervor and ignorance, that's the real concern these days.

An additional worry here (like most of the rest of the world when antiquities trafficking gets connected to warfare and other illicit trades) is that, as time goes on, historic period artifacts and manuscripts will be looted or go missing from collections and end up on the black market. Now, those tracking the trade out of Africa will have to be extra vigilant... I wouldn't be surprised if fresh loot has already reached the storerooms of online dealers. Whether or not the continued actions of Ansar Dine are in the name of their concept of a "purified" Islam, or more related to attacks against Western supremacy and imposed ideas of heritage itself, the time to act is now. Once destroyed, they can not truly be replaced....

Remains in Evidence...

This article links to a rather old news story about human remains trafficking out of (in this case) India. Although the story is old, the points it raises about the general ineffectiveness of current laws, and the regional/global nature of this subset of the antiquities trade are definitely worth considering in more detail. What is needed and where in order to make a dent in a largely undetected aspect of the trade?

In fact, this is just what I am thinking about, and will be writing about in the coming weeks as I begin to put together an idea for a post-doctoral research project. Ideally, this research should be both practical to those directly on the ground fighting the trade, and able to unite my interests in cutting edge archaeological/chemical science and the antiquities trade. I am throwing this out to the blogosphere in the hopes that others might catch things I might overlook, give advice, or share resources of their own. All such help is most appreciated, and anyone is free to email me privately to discuss :) Let's see where the rabbit-hole goes?

Breaking News: Another Repatriation Claim for Khmer Antiquities

I just received an article a few moments ago from a colleague, written by NY Times authors Tom Mashburg and Ralph Blumenthal. It concerns a new repatriation case to get two c. 921-945AD statues ("The Kneeling Attendants") that likely stood at Koh Ker before their theft in the 1970s returned to Cambodia. This time, the Met is the defendant, with the Cambodian government's cultural heritage division (APSARA) and UNESCO currently assembling the evidence for this claim. 

In the Met's defense, the article attests that internal investigation in 1997 resulted in the return of a 10th c. head of Shiva to APSARA. However, from my own visits there in 2010 at least, I can attest that many of the prehistoric artifacts on display, due to their types and rarity (especially grave goods), have much more suspect origins. Their newest acquisitions policy, on paper, is supposed to be very strict in terms of all antiquities having pre-1970 provenance, but...?

The article alleges that these statues would have stood mere yards from the standing statue (referred to as Duryodhyana) that the US and Cambodian governments are trying to get returned by Sotheby's. All these peaces were connected to the London auction house Spink & Sons in the 1980s, likely arriving in London via Bangkok after being looted during the chaos of the Khmer Rouge regime. If the testimony of local villagers given in the article that the temple "had been virtually unmolested" before the 1970s is true, then this would add to the case, but the doubt expressed as to their origins by the individual who originally purchased them from Spinks is worth noting.

If Spinks really did loose the paperwork, this will make the case harder to prove. The Met's current Director of External Affairs is here on record giving the standard argument that Western museums have some sort of right/obligation to acquire cultural property/heritage at all costs, "especially if, by doing so, they might be protected from disappearance completely from public view and from study." While this may seem noble, it can never excuse arranging, relying on, or condoning obvious looting in order to flesh out one's 'encyclopedic' museum shelves.

On the other hand, however, Cambodia was in a state of turmoil and these pieces very well could have been destroyed if Koh Ker was bombed... I won't deny that cases like these are far more complicated than dealing with prehistoric SE Asian antiquities on the market, but the high profile nature of these statues should at least encourage all possible information to be gathered. All we can do is stay tuned as  this newest case develops.