The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art announced today that it will return three bronze sculptures to India, continuing a recent series of restitutions that last month included Khmer-period works returned to Cambodia.
The three bronze figures —“Shiva Nataraja” (ca. 990), “Somaskanda” (12th century), and “Saint Sundarar with Paravai”—were sacred objects originally carried in temple processions before they were stolen. According to the museum’s provenance research, the works were linked to art dealers known to have trafficked looted antiquities. In 2023, the museum partnered with the Photo Archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry to determine their origins, ultimately finding that the bronzes had been photographed in temples in Tamil Nadu, India, between 1956 and 1959, and removed in violation of Indian laws.
“The National Museum of Asian Art is committed to stewarding cultural heritage responsibly and advancing transparency in our collection,” said Chase F. Robinson, the museum’s director. “Because we aim to understand the objects in our collection in their full complexity, we carry out a robust program of research that seeks to trace not just how they came to the museum, but the history of their origins and movements across time.”
In December, the National Museum of Asian Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., returned three Khmer-period sculptures after research conducted in collaboration with Cambodian authorities determined that the works were likely looted during Cambodia’s civil war (1967–1975). The sculptures—two 10th-century depictions of the Hindu deities Uma and Harihara, and a third from around 1200 CE depicting the Buddhist deity Prajnaparamita—had been donated to the museum without documentation of their export from Cambodia. As in the case of the Indian restitutions, each Cambodian sculpture was linked to art dealers now known to have trafficked in looted antiquities.
“Although the Smithsonian has legal title or custody of its collections, continued retention or sole stewardship may cause harm to descendants or communities and be fundamentally inconsistent with the Smithsonian’s ethical standards and values,” the museum said in a statement.
