Metropolitan Museum returns ancient looted art artifacts to Cambodia and Thailand

These are not yet the 45 masterpieces that Cambodia requested back from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York two years ago, but fourteen statues from the Khmer period – between the 9th and 14th centuries – will be returned to their country in the foreseeable future. of origin.

According to the American art newspaper The Art Newspaper In addition to these fourteen statues, two other centuries-old Khmer pieces are also returned to Thailand.

The pieces came into the museum’s possession thanks to British art dealer Douglas Latchford, who died in 2020, who smuggled a huge collection of Cambodian antique art out of the country at the end of the 20th century and sold much of it to museums.

Looted art

It is not the first time that the Met has returned stolen art to the Cambodian authorities. It has become increasingly clear in recent decades that much art had been stolen since dictator Lon Nol established the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror in 1970. In 2013, two enormous statues, the Kneeling guards, back to Cambodia. These two statues, together with several other artefacts, had arrived at the museum via Latchford.

A large part of the Cambodian collection entered the museum via Latchford. In 1970, the Met decided that the Southeast Asian art department needed to be expanded. Latchford provided the museum with masterpieces from then on, and continued to do so until 2000. The British trader lived most of his life in an apartment in Bangkok, where he continued to expand his trade.

The American newspaper Denver Post outlined in a profile last year how Latchford maneuvered between traders, museums and ministries of culture. Since the 1950s, he sought ancient Khmer artifacts, becoming the largest private collector of Cambodian ancient art. At parties in Bangkok he welcomed his guests with luxury, and visitors kissed his ring upon entering.

In 2012, he was first charged by American authorities for allegedly being involved in the theft of relics from Buddhist temples. In 2019, the indictment was expanded and the federal government charged him with fraud, smuggling and looted art scams, among other charges. He died in 2020 before the verdict was handed down.

How many pieces he had siphoned off and what he had earned from them became clearer thanks to the Pandora Papers investigation, in which financial malpractice by politicians and criminals, among others, came to light in 2021. Latchford’s daughter has now indicated that she will return her collection, which is estimated at a value of 50 million dollars (46 million euros), to the countries of origin.

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