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The Cleveland Museum of Art's allegedly looted 10th century Cambodian statue of Hanuman is the subject of discussions between the government of Cambodia and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
(Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Museum of Art said Thursday it is in discussions with the government of Cambodia concerning a 10th-century statue in its collection of the kneeling Hindu monkey god, Hanuman, that reportedly had been looted from the country.
The museum's statement said:
"Late last year, the Cleveland Museum of Art initiated discussions with the Kingdom of Cambodia concerning various topics of mutual interest, including the sculpture of Hanuman. These discussions have been very cordial and productive. Because the conversations are ongoing, it would be premature for the museum to comment further at this time."
William Griswold, the museum's director, declined further comment.
The museum released the statement in response to an article published Thursday in The Cambodia Daily of Phnom Penh, which quoted Thay Norak Satia, a spokesman for the Culture Ministry, as having said the latest agreement on antiquities between Cambodia and the U.S. government regards the repatriation of the Cleveland Hanuman statue.
The article quoted Satia as having said: "what we are working on is the Hanuman statue in the Cleveland Museum of Art."
Griswold declined to say whether the discussions with Cambodia regard the possible repatriation of the statue.
The sculpture, which stands nearly 4 feet high, is carved in red sandstone and depicts Hanuman kneeling in a posture of loyalty. The museum acquired the work in 1982.
According to a 2013 article in The New York Times, Cambodian officials said that the Cleveland Hanuman was looted from Prasat Chen, a 1,000-year-old temple at the Koh Ker archaeological site about 15 miles south of the border with Thailand.
The article cited unnamed experts who said that thieves had hauled sculptures from Prasat Chen across the border via oxcart over jungle trails during Cambodia's bloody civil war.
At the time, the museum's then-director, David Franklin, said the museum had not been contacted by Cambodia.
Cleveland Museum of Art employees in 2013 cast a mold from the base of the institution's 10th-century Hanuman sculpture to prepare for an investigation of whether the work had been looted. The museum said its research ruled out Prasat Chen in Cambodia as the work's original site.
Last year, however, the museum said that it had obtained permits from the Cambodian government allowing Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, its curator of Indian and Southeast Asian art, to travel to Prasat Chen with a lightweight plastic resin mold made from the base of the Hanuman sculpture.
Quintanilla said the facsimile did not fit the two spots at Prasat Chen where it logically would have been located, thus ruling out the theory that it had been looted from the site.
Quintanilla said at the time that research into the work's provenance, or ownership history, was underway, but declined further comment.
Griswold said that for reasons unrelated to the discussions with Cambodia, the Hanuman would be taken off view Monday for further examination by the museum's conservation department.
"Lest anyone conflate its disappearance with this story, I wanted to make that clear," Griswold said.
Sonya Rhie Quintanilla joined the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2012 as its curator of Indian and southeast Asian art.
The story in The Cambodia Daily came in response to a report published Tuesday in The New York Times that the Manhattan district attorney's office had revealed the previously undisclosed seizure of $107.6 million in antiquities from India and southern Asia.
The article described papers filed in State Supreme Court saying the antiquities had been smuggled by art dealer Subhash Kapoor. The seizures began in 2012, the Times reported. Kapoor had denied any wrongdoing.
The Cambodia Daily reported that about $3 million worth of items seized in New York were Cambodian in origin. When the newspaper asked Satia to comment, he said he had no information, but volunteered that, as the newspaper reported, "the latest agreement on antiquities between Cambodia and the U.S. government was regarding the repatriation of a Hanuman statue in the possession of the Cleveland Museum of Art."