Australia returns smuggled Indian sculptures to India

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Photo: Twitter post of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Indian Minister Culture & Tourism.

By SAT News Desk

Melbourne, 19 September: At an event with the Minister for the Arts, Senator the Hon. Mitch Fifield, and the Indian Minister of Culture and Tourism, the Hon. Dr. Mahesh Sharma, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) formally returned three statues it bought from its Asian art collection to the Indian Government. The stolen statues smuggled out of India were bought by the NGA from an art dealer.

According to the ABC, “The gallery purchased the sculptures, Goddess Pratyangira and Worshippers of the Buddha, in 2005 from a New York-based dealer called Art of the Past.”

“Company owner Subhash Kapoor was arrested in 2011 over alleged links to the illicit art trade and is currently awaiting trial.Together the statues are worth an estimated $1.1 million, but documentation provided to the gallery during their purchase is suspected to have been falsified, “ says the ABC.

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“The decision to return the Goddess Pratyangira and Worshippers of the Buddha statues is the result of extensive research by the NGA into the provenance of its Asian art collection,”
a media release from the Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield, Minister for Communications Minister for the Arts and Manager of Government Business in the Senate says.

The statues have been significant items in the National Gallery’s Asian art collection and treated with the utmost care while in Australia, but as significant examples of India’s heritage, the statues will be returned.

– SAT News Service

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Neeraj Nanda

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