According to a recent report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has more than 1,000 artefacts in its collection that are linked to people who were allegedly involved in crimes related to the antiquities trade.
In an investigation of the Met’s antiquities collection, the ICIJ and nonprofit organisation Finance Uncovered discovered that at least 1,109 items had previously been acquired by people who had been charged or found to have committed crimes, including looting and trafficking.
There are 309 of these artefacts on display in the museum. Nearly half of these artefacts originate from countries with rigorous export regulations that have been in place for decades.
On the basis of the museum records, ICIJ stated that many such relics were taken down after international regulations restricting the movement of antiquities across national borders were already in effect.
Several ancient artefacts in the Met’s collection lack records tracing them to their country of origin, according to ICIJ and Finance Uncovered. Among more than 250 Nepalese and Kashmiri artefacts listed in the museum’s inventory, just three can be traced back to their original regions.
The Metropolitan began purchasing artefacts from American-born antiquities dealer Robert E. Hecht in the 1950s and kept doing so even after Hecht was accused of smuggling by Italian prosecutors in 1959 and 1961.
As the statute of limitations ran out, the prosecution against Hecht was subsequently dropped, and Hecht passed away in 2012 after persistently denying any involvement in the illicit export of artwork.
Further, the Met is home to more than 800 items that originally belonged to Hecht’s business colleague Jonathan P. Rosen, who was indicted in Italy with Hecht in 1997. According to The Los Angeles Times, Rosen donated 10,000 ancient Iraqi tablets to Cornell University in 2013. The Cleveland Museum of Art agreed to return items in its collections from Rosen in 2008 after finding out that they had allegedly been stolen. Rosen’s attorney disputed that the tablets had been obtained unlawfully at the time.
85 more artwork in the Met’s collection are associated with Subhash Kapoor, a former Manhattan art dealer who was handed a 10-year prison term last year for crimes related to trafficking. Kapoor was accused of theft and illegally exporting statues from the Varadharaja Perumal temple, a Hindu temple outside the city of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. These items then made their way to his Manhattan gallery, Art of the Past.
Celestial Dancer, one of the prominent Indian artefacts held by the Met, was purchased as part of a deal involving Art of the Past, Kapoor’s Manhattan gallery at the time. The gallery manager admitted to selling Asian artwork that was stolen in 2013, which was two years after Kapoor’s imprisonment.
“Then in 2015, as Kapoor faced trial on smuggling charges in India, the Met received the piece as a donation from wealthy collectors who had purchased it from his gallery,” ICIJ report stated.
ICIJ linked an archived version of the Metropolitan Museum’s website wherein it was stated that the 12th ‘Celestial Dancer’ artefact ornamented a North Indian Hindu temple in Uttar Pradesh’.
The executive director of the anti-trafficking group Antiquities Coalition, Tess Davis, told the ICIJ that “The Met sets the tone for museums around the world. What hope is there for the rest of the art market if the Met is allowing all of these things to fall through the cracks?”
An ICIJ and Finance Uncovered report stated that their analysis of 94 Kashmiri artefacts in the Met’s collection shows that none of them has detailed provenance outlining how they left Kashmir. Only four of them have records of ownership dating back to 1970, the year UNESCO approved a convention to preserve cultural property, making them the pinnacle of provenance. Eight artefacts were purchased from art dealers who were earlier faced indictment.
Vijay Kumar, the co-founder of India Pride Project (IPP) told ICIJ that “the Met’s collection of Kashmiri artefacts are essentially blood antiquities, acquired during years when much of the population was fleeing what has been described as an ethnic cleansing.” He also added that the museum was encouraging looting and smuggling from a known conflict zone by buying these artefacts.
Notably, Vijay Kumar’s India Pride Project had in December last year traced two of the stolen Hanuman and Narsimha idols to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
wheels of justice finally..https://t.co/iqSc9VZSp1@metmuseum matched to theft at Mel kasakudi temple Karaikkal @ManhattanDA @ChasingAphrodit @sanjeevsanyal @MinOfCultureGoI @MEAIndia @nsitharaman @PMOIndia @jayantmuraliips@DrTamilisaiGuv @CombatLooting#BringOurGodsHome pic.twitter.com/lRcPpBpVEq
— vj @ poetryinstone 🇮🇳 (@poetryinstone) December 22, 2022
These idols were reported, stolen from the Sri Varathraja Perumal temple in Melakasakudi, Nedungadu in the Karaikal district
