The recent addition of extra explanatory signage in the section of the National Museum which has been set aside for displaying the recently returned sculptures from overseas, includes profiles of both Douglas Latchford, a name that has become synonymous with the looting of Khmer artifacts, and that of a former looter, Lion, one of the most prolific of the temple thieves, who supplied Latchford and his go-betweens with numerous statues. A map of the world confirms that over 1,000 objects stolen between the 1960s and into the late 1990s, have been repatriated to Cambodia from 15 countries, which is a major source of national pride. How these objects were able to return home is explored, as are ongoing initiatives and future plans including traveling exhibitions.
Some of the bronzes currently housed in this section will be heading to Paris fairly soon to take part in the exhibition, Royal Bronzes of Angkor, an Art of the Divine, which will open its doors on 30 April at the Guimet Museum. An example is this gorgeous bronze Buddha from the Baphuon style period of the 11th century that finally found its tortuous way back to Cambodia in June 2022. Its removal from its temple home in Cambodia is not recorded, and may never be known. It first surfaced in the public domain as one of the exhibits in Douglas Latchford and Emma Bunker’s 544-page tome, Khmer Bronzes: New Interpretations of the Past, published in late 2011. It was credited at the time as being owned by the mysterious Skanda Trust, which was later exposed in the Pandora Papers revelations of 2021 as one of two offshore trusts set up by the Douglas Latchford family to squirrel away their ill-gotten monetary gains. As for the Buddha, meditating on the scaly three-tiered body of Naga, but missing the protective hood of the seven-headed serpent that would’ve sheltered the Buddha from bad weather, court documents from the Southern District of New York claimed Latchford sold the piece to New York gallery owner Nancy Wiener for half a million dollars in November 2011. With some damage to its right arm (the restorer admitted it “appeared to have been struck by an agricultural tool,” a sign of “illegal excavation”) the statue was restored and put on sale at the Wiener gallery for USD1.5 million before American authorities seized the piece in March 2016. The bronze depicts Buddha sitting cross-legged and his erect body is clothed in a robe that covers his left arm, his hands with palms facing upwards, and a faint smile, topped with a moustache and extra-long earlobes. His matted hair raises to form a conical chignon while indents in his eyes indicate they would’ve housed precious gems, and in his pierced ears, earrings. The sculpture stands at 45 centimeters in height.

 

....Credit By :Andy Brouwer