The Metropolitan Museum of Art will repatriate 15 antiquities to India, the institution announced today, March 30. The sculptures, dating from the first century BCE to the 11th century CE, were all at one point sold by disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor, who was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison for the theft and illegal export of ancient religious idols. The United States Department of Homeland Security appointed Kapoor “one of the most prolific art smugglers in the world”.
In 2015, The Met began working with the United States Department of Homeland Security and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to investigate items potentially linked to the infamous dealer. The Indian government will receive “Rattle in the form of a grotesque crouching yaksha (male spirit of nature)” (1st century BCE), a terracotta figure donated by Kapoor; “Celestial Dancer (Devata)” (mid-11th century CE); and “Svetambara enthroned Jina with attendant Yaksha and Yakshi” (second half of 11th century CE); among other terracotta, copper and stone objects.
“The Museum is committed to the responsible acquisition of archaeological art and applies rigorous provenance standards to both new acquisitions and long-standing works in its collection,” the Met said in a statement shared with Hyperallergic. “The Museum values its long-standing relationship with the Indian government and is pleased to address this issue.”
As part of an international investigation known as “Operation Hidden Idol”, Kapoor has been accused of traffic of more than 140 million dollars of stolen works from countries such as India, Afghanistan and Cambodia, among others, in July 2019. He owned the Manhattan gallery Art of the Past, which US federal authorities raided in 2012. Between 2011 – when the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) detained Kapoor in Cologne and deported him to India – and in 2022 authorities found more than 2,600 looted items linked to the dealer.
The Met’s repatriation follows other efforts to return looted items to their country of origin. After receiving a warrant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Yale University Art Gallery returned thirteen artifacts linked to Kapoor’s smuggling network in India and Burma in August 2022. The District Attorney’s Office also returned 235 Indian antiquities seized from Kapoor’s collection in 2021.
Last week, the Met removed from display three items suspected of having been illegally looted from the archaeological sites of Bubo and Perge in Turkey. The museum also shared in its statement today that it is currently reviewing other antiquities in its collection potentially linked to “suspicious dealers”.
