Controversies Over Allegedly Illegal Art Acquisitions by Western Museums

When fine art dealer Douglas Latchford was charged with wire fraud, smuggling and conspiracy, United states of america prosecutors not only alleged that he had trafficked stolen Cambodian antiquities -- he had "congenital a career" on information technology.

The indictment, brought before a New York courtroom in 2019, claimed the British collector was part of an organized annexation network that faked records for items information technology had taken or illicitly excavated from archaeological sites similar Angkor Wat. Considered one of the world's foremost authorities on fine art from the Central khmer Empire, which ruled between the 9th and 15th centuries, Latchford had served as "a conduit" for stolen treasures since the 1970s, co-ordinate to court documents.

He died in Thailand in 2020, aged 88, earlier answering the charges. But now the tardily dealer'due south daughter, Nawapan Kriangsak, has promised to return all of the Cambodian artifacts that she inherited from her begetter. Consisting of at least 100 statues and carvings, the collection is considered of such cultural significance that the country's national museum in Phnom Penh is being expanded to accommodate it.

Cambodia'southward Minister of Civilisation and Fine Arts, Phoeurng Sackona, told CNN that news of the items' return had produced a "magical feeling."

"Our culture and our statues are non but wood and dirt, they possess spirits, and they have senses," she said in a video interview, via a translator. "The pieces themselves want to come back to their country."

A statuary statue of a male deity dating dorsum to the belatedly 11th century.

Credit: Matthew Hollow/Royal Government of Kingdom of cambodia

Of the items pledged, 25 have already been returned, according to Bradley J. Gordon, a legal advisor to the Cambodian regime who helped negotiate the deal. The residual volition be sent in batches, he said, with a further five due to arrive in the coming weeks. While the authorities has announced that over 100 objects are beingness returned, Gordon said over the phone that the final number will be "much college" when smaller items are included in the evolving inventory.

Among those existence sent adjacent is a sandstone depiction of the deity Prajnaparamita and a bronze etching of a legendary Garuda bird. As well included is a prized 10th-century depiction of the Hindu god Shiva and his first-born son Skanda, a statue the Cambodian government believes to be from the remote Koh Ker temple complex. The detail had previously featured on the comprehend of a book co-authored past Latchford, one of 3 respected publications on Khmer art produced past the controversial dealer during his lifetime.

Sackona said that her department would continue to investigate how the items came to leave the country. She would not, however, annotate on the charges brought against Latchford. Nor would 49-year-old Kriangsak, who in a argument to CNN said that, upon her father's death concluding Baronial, she "inherited a collection but too a conversation."

"Over the last few years I became increasingly convinced that the best way to bargain with this legacy would be to give all his Khmer art, irrespective of origin, to the people of Cambodia," she said. "Many of the returned statues and other objects have impeccable provenance. Still, I decided non to discriminate between those for which I know almost the provenance and those that I don't. It's all going habitation."

Kingdom of cambodia's government believes that this 10th-century statue, depicting the Hindu god Shiva and his beginning-built-in son Skanda, came from the remote Koh Ker temple complex.

Credit: Matthew Hollow/Royal Government of Cambodia

Widespread looting

The murky marketplace for Central khmer antiques results from the social and political upheaval that ravaged Cambodia in the latter half of the 20th century. With invasions and civil conflict falling either side of a 1970s genocide carried out by former prime number minister Politico Pot'due south savage Khmer Rouge, protecting cultural heritage was rarely a priority in the state.

Looters took full advantage of the instability. Statues and architectural elements were taken directly from temples and archaeological sites, oftentimes crossing the border to Thailand before finding their manner onto the international art market.

The total number of items taken from Cambodia will likely never be known, and a "red list" published by the International Council of Museums warns of a huge range of objects at risk of existence illicitly traded -- from elaborate friezes to pocket-sized chaplet, adornments and utensils. In a 2014 study from the British Periodical of Criminology, a banker of illegal artifacts told researchers that his group lonely had trafficked 92 statues betwixt mid-1997 and mid-1998, as the Khmer Rouge movement complanate. Another study found that, of the 377 Khmer pieces put upwardly for sale by Sotheby's auction house between 1988 and 2010, more than seventy% had no published buying history.

Sotheby'southward did non respond to CNN's request for comment.

Latchford, who held both British and Thai citizenship, ever denied allegations of wrongdoing. In 2010, he reportedly told the Bangkok Post paper that "most of the pieces I accept come across accept been found or dug upward past farmers in fields." His daughter meanwhile told CNN: "My father bought his Khmer artifacts from auction houses, collectors and dealers of every kind, all over the globe."

This statuary carving of a legendary Garuda bird would have adorned a ship.

Credit: Matthew Hollow/Royal Authorities of Cambodia

Despite question marks around his activities, the Khmer items he caused and sold found their way into leading museums and private collections, passing through major auction houses in the process. But with Cambodia now enjoying a long period of relative stability, and tourism responsible for more than 20% of the country's GDP, the government has stepped upward efforts to repatriate items taken from the aboriginal temples visitors at present flock to. The drive coincides with growing calls for Western museums -- particularly those of old colonial powers -- to give back treasures taken illicitly or by force.

In 2013, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Fine art returned two tenth-century rock statues, donated by Latchford in the late 1980s and early on 1990s, in light of "new documentary enquiry." Merely the museum'southward vast collection still contains at least six items in one case held by Latchford, according to its online records. The institution has non yet responded to CNN'southward request for comment.

Elsewhere, the Cleveland Museum of Art has three items -- of both Cambodian and Thai origin -- once owned by Latchford, though none were directly acquired from him. A spokesperson said the museum has a "potent, collaborative" relationship with Cambodia, and is ready to borrow a number of Khmer artifacts from the state for an exhibition this autumn. The Denver Museum of Art, which holds six of Latchford's objects, meanwhile said that it has recently opened discussions with Cambodian authorities. "The museum proactively contacted cultural officials in Cambodia regarding these pieces about a twelvemonth ago," a museum spokesperson said via email, "and our dialogue with Kingdom of cambodia remains ongoing about their provenance."

Cambodia's late deputy Prime Minister Sok An shakes hands with Douglas Latchford during a function at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Latchford repatriated a number of Khmer antiquities during the event.

Credit: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images

Despite growing suspicions nigh Latchford's activities in the Western art world, he connected to savour more than favorable standing in Kingdom of cambodia. Having previously donated items to the national museum in Phnom Penh, he was awarded the Royal Order of Monisaraphon, the country's equivalent of a knighthood, in 2008.

His daughter, Kriangsak, said that in improver to returning artifacts, she is also sharing her father'due south records with Cambodian authorities. Investigating the collection's provenance is at present, she added, "the job of the archaeologists and researchers at the Ministry of Civilisation."

Divided opinions

None of the parties involved in negotiations would put an estimate on the collection's budgetary value, reported by the New York Times to be more than $50 meg. "I've seen the estimated values, and people can evaluate the statues and determine the price," said Sackona, the culture government minister. "But to me, and other Cambodians, we cannot put a price on ... the blood and sweat of our ancestors and the values of our gods."

The politician said she hoped that the understanding will "send a bulletin" to those however in possession of Kingdom of cambodia'south cultural heritage. She described Kriangsak as a "role model" for other collectors and museums.

Not everyone familiar with the example is so sanguine about the tardily collector's family, however. While welcoming the objects' restitution, the CEO of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA), Lynda Albertson, suggested that Kriangsak is motivated by protecting her family'southward reputation, saying in a telephone interview: "If she was looking to right the wrongs of her father, she would have conspicuously stated: 'I am doing this because (how he acquired the items) was wrong."

A sandstone depiction of the deity Prajnaparamita is amidst the next items to get in in Cambodia.

Credit: Matthew Hollow/Majestic Authorities of Cambodia

Albertson also said that other areas of Latchford's drove -- artifacts from India, in particular -- should also be investigated, though Kriangsak declined to comment on the matter.

Latchford's daughter did, withal, claim that her begetter had indicated a willingness to render his Khmer items prior to his death. The dealer was live when talks began three years ago, though, having been diagnosed with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, his involvement was express past his ailing health. By the time of the 2019 charges "his mind had gone," Kriangsak added, saying that her father "was never enlightened of the indictment and never understood that there were specific charges, and he certainly couldn't answer them or defend himself.

"Nobody could be expected to exist consistent in the confront of those health issues, and the futurity of his collection was a vexed result," she added, challenge that: "Many times my begetter told me and others that he would similar major statues to render to Cambodia."

Latchford's true motivations and the nature of his acquisitions may never come to calorie-free. However, ARCA'south Albertson suggested that the decision to render the treasures might however lead to further restitution, with items handled by the tardily dealer still in collections around the world.

"As long as Latchford's name comes up in the provenance (or) history of objects, information technology volition make them toxic in terms of resale," she added. "So, this might create a sense of 'let's requite information technology dorsum or let's create some adept printing,' or some feelings of goodwill betwixt different collectors. Just that remains to be seen."

Pictured meridian: A 10th century statue of the deity Ardhanarishvara

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Source: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/cambodia-khmer-artifacts-douglas-latchford/index.html

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