The Metropolitan Museum of Art talks about its Cambodian relics
According to new reports, two weeks ago, officials from the Metropolitan Museum of Art met with professionals from the U.S. Attorney’s Office to talk about the possibility that certain Cambodian artifacts in the institution’s collection had been stolen from their original locations. Although details of the conversation were not made explicitly available, a complaint was filed by Manhattan’s federal district court in July regarding a Cambodian Khmer sandstone sculpture stolen from the country. This sculpture was associated with the collector Douglas AJ Latchford, who once owned 12 pieces that are now held by Met.
“Recently, in light of new information about some pieces in our collection, we contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office – to voluntarily report that we would be happy to cooperate with any query,” Metropolitan Museum of Art said in a statement Sunday. “The Met also has a long and well-documented history of responding to claims about works of art, restoring objects where appropriate, being transparent about the origin of works in the collection, and supporting further research and scholarship by sharing all known ownership history. . “
In fact, Met announced earlier this month that it would return a 10th-century Nepalese sculpture to its country of origin after researchers discovered discrepancies in the sculpture’s ownership list. In addition, over the past few years, the Met has removed many items from its collection that were found to have been stolen or obtained in a generally shady manner. These items include an ancient Egyptian coffin from the late Ptolemaic period and a 2,300-year-old Greek vase, both of which have since been returned to their countries of origin. The U.S. Treasury Department is also currently drafting new rules to better monitor the U.S. antiques trade because it is apparently not waterproof.
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