- Canberra Gallery will return 14 works of art to India.
- The collection is worth approximately US$2.2 million.
- Thirteen of the works are related to the suspected trafficker Subhash Kapoor.
The National Gallery announced on Thursday that Australia will return 14 artworks to India, at least 6 of which are believed to have been stolen or exported illegally.
The Canberra Gallery identified these works—including sculptures, photographs and scrolls—as stolen, looted, or of unknown origin.
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The collection is mainly composed of “religious and cultural handicrafts” with a total value of approximately US$2.2 million, some of which date back to the 12th century.
Gallery director Nick Mizevic said that these works will be returned to the Indian government within a few months.
“It is a relief that they can be returned to the Indian people, and the National Gallery has decided to end a very difficult chapter in our history,” he said.
This undated picture of the lecture notes published by the National Gallery of Australia shows the arches of the Jain temple and the seated Gina from the 11th to 12th centuries in the Mount Abu region of Rajasthan, India.
This undated handout picture released by the National Gallery of Australia shows a statue of Tamil Nadu, a 12th-century child Saint Sambandar. Australia will return 14 works of art to India, of which at least 6 are believed to have been stolen or exported illegally.
Legal and ethical issues
Thirteen of the works are related to the suspected trafficker Subhash Kapoor, a former Manhattan art dealer who was the subject of a large-scale federal investigation in the United States, named “Operation Hidden Idol.”
Kapoor, who is awaiting trial, denies all charges.
The National Gallery of Australia has returned several other works obtained through Kapoor, including a $5 million bronze statue of the Hindu Lord Shiva, which was stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu.
Mitzevich stated that it has introduced guidelines for assessing any legal and ethical issues in the works it holds, and is investigating three other sculptures in its Asian collection.
“This is largely a real-time problem for galleries around the world. We want to ensure that we can resolve these problems in a timely manner,” he said.
Many antiquities handled by Kapoor date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, when the Chora dynasty presided over the thriving Hindu art in Tamil Nadu.
Since his arrest in 2011, the United States has also returned hundreds of cultural relics.
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