Cambodia suspicious about statues in hunt for looted art
CAMBODIAN artworks held by Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum and the British Museum have been labelled “highly suspicious” by government experts looking for “stolen” items in British collections.
The Ministry of Culture in Phnom Penh is seeking the return of artworks looted during periods of Khmer Rouge violence and smuggled out to be sold on western markets.
A 10th-century statue singled out by the Cambodian expert delegation depicts wisdom deity Prajnaparamita and was acquired by the Ashmolean in 1999, with its origin listed as a temple site called Prasat Ta Muen Thom.
The Cambodian delegation’s legal adviser Brad Gordon says this area was “a no-go zone well into the 1990s”, ravaged by “Khmer Rouge activity and looting”, and this has made the statue’s presence in the UK “highly suspicious”.
The delegation – including stonemasons, antiquarians, and legal experts – also had concerns about an 11th-century limestone statue the British Museum acquired at the height of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1976.
They say it matches the description given by a former looter, who claimed to have stolen the antique from a temple in the early 1970s. Mr Gordon has called on the British Museum to provide details of how the statue was acquired.
There have been complaints of “minimal” documentation of the Cambodian objects in the institution, despite the country being a hotbed for looting.
The British Museum houses objects donated by late Bangkok-based art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was accused of smuggling antiquities looted from Cambodian conflict zones.
The British Museum has always maintained the objects in its collection
‘The Ashmolean statue came from a temple site that was a no-go zone well into the 1990s’
have been acquired “in good faith”. It has been contacted for comment.
The Ashmolean has said its experts will seek to help Cambodia’s campaign to reclaim stolen objects, and will carry out further research into objects which have raised suspicions, which also include a stone figure of a lion.
Animal figures are understood not to be a priority for Cambodia, which is mainly seeking the return of images of Buddhist and Hindu religious figures, which are believed to hold the souls of ancestors.