Met Museum to Return 16 Looted Khmer Artifacts
about 4 months ago (12/15/2023)
Met Museum to Return 16 Looted Khmer Artifacts Skip to content Unknown artist, "Head of Buddha" (7th century), sandstone, 24 x 13 x 12 3/4 inches (all photos courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art) An ancient larger-than-life sandstone Buddha head, a bronze sculpture of a seated Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, and a 10th-century goddess statuette from a remote temple complex are among 16 looted Khmer works currently in the process of repatriation back to Cambodia and Thailand, according to announcements by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) released today, December 15. Fourteen of the pieces will be returned to Cambodia and two will be returned to Thailand, which the Metropolitan Museum of Art said effectively expunges its collection of all known Khmer artwork connected to infamous antiquities trafficker Douglas Latchford , who was indicted in 2019 for purchasing works stolen from Cambodian heritage sites and illicitly dealing the looted items on the international market for over half a century. (Latchford died in 2020, before his trial).