‘Sotheby’s Tried To Sell $3m Khmer Statue – And Knew It Was Stolen’
But on June 28, the scholar had a change of heart after contacting “culture spies” in Phnom Penh, saying it was probably safe to sell the Duryodhana because Cambodia wasn’t requesting the return of looted artifacts. Instead, it was concentrating on stopping current looting and smuggling.
“I think that Sotheby’s can therefore go ahead and plan to sell the Koh Ker Guardian, but perhaps not good to show or mention the feet still in situ at Koh Ker in the catalogue,” the expert wrote.
Sotheby’s decided to put the sale back to March 2011, and discussed whether they should inform the Cambodian Minister of Culture and Fine Arts. After consultations with its legal department, the auction house asked the academic to share information on the statue with the minister.
“If he doesn’t react adversely (within a time span of 7-10 days), then we will first celebrate and then immediately go ahead,” the officer’s email said. The scholar wrote back, warning “it would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull”.
In November, Sotheby’s wrote to the minister saying they were selling the item, but they did not get a reply and so proceeded with the sale, the court papers say.
An internal email highlighted the risks Sotheby’s faced with the planned auction – pointing out how the sculpture was to feature on the catalogue cover, and “is known to have come from a specific site in Cambodia and for which we only have provenance from 1975”.
On the day of the sale, the Cambodian government contacted Sotheby’s through UNESCO, saying “it is believed that this statue was illegally removed from the site.” It said the Duryodhana was of “tremendous historical and archaeological value” and demanded its return.
Sotheby’s withdrew the item, but kept hold of the sculpture as negotiations continued. That is until today, when it was due to be impounded by agents from the United States Department of Homeland Security.
US Attorney Preet Bharara said: “The Duryodhana statue is imbued with great meaning for the people of Cambodia. With today’s action we are taking an important step toward reuniting this ancient artifact with its rightful owners.”
It remains to be seen whether the treasured statue will return to Cambodia, or end up gathering dust in a millionaire’s mausoleum after being sold like a souvenir to the highest bidder.
But as Duryodhana literally means “hard to fight”, it is certainly living up to its name. Bosses at Sotheby’s must be secretly wishing they’d never taken on the mythological warrior in the first place.
Alex Watts
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SunSan:
April 6th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Good one, Alex!
Peter Hogan:
April 6th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Here is the full legal complaint.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/88039322/U-S-v-10th-Century-Cambodian-Sculpture-12-Civ-2600
And the so-called academic exposed as colluding with Sotheby’s to hoodwink her Cambodian colleagues is one Emma C Bunker.
As has been suggested on the K440 forum, hopefully this will be a career-ender for her.
JinTao:
April 19th, 2012 at 6:03 am
Not a suprised to me, why in the world wouldnt they want 3m dollars?
khmerhit:
June 3rd, 2012 at 2:16 am
Excellent article. It should be returned to the Cambodian people, obviously, whether their representatives and leaders take an interest in their cultural legacy, or not.
Fortunately for Emma C bunker, whoever she is, history relates that temple-plundering enhances rather than hinders one’s career, viz a certain Andre Malraux, France’s Minister of Culture at the time this particular statue disappeared in the 1960s.