(21 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bangkok – 21 May 2024
1. Wide of statues in glass cases, before ceremony
2. Various of Standing Shiva
3. Various of Kneeling Female
4. Wide of media
5. Wide of John Guy, Metropolitan Museum of Art curator, at podium
6. SOUNDBITE (English) John Guy, Metropolitan Museum of Art:
"The Met initiated the return of these two objects after reviewing information and established that the works rightly belonged to the Kingdom of Thailand. This return followed the launch of the Met’s Cultural Property Initiative last year, an initiative driven by the Met’s commitment to the responsible collecting of antiquities and to the shared stewardship of the world’s cultural heritage.”
7. Mid of Standing Shiva
8. Mid of Kneeling Female
9. Wide of Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol, Minister of Culture, at podium
10. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol, Minister of Culture:
"On behalf of the Thai government and all Thai people, I’d like to express gratitude that these two important artifacts have returned home. These artifacts that Thailand has received from the Met are the national assets of all Thais.”
11. Various of guests looking at statues
STORYLINE:
Two ancient statues, illegally trafficked from Thailand by a British collector of antiquities, were returned to the kingdom on Tuesday in a ceremony at the National Museum in Bangkok.
The objects – a tall bronze figure called the “Standing Shiva” or the “Golden Boy” and a smaller sculpture called “Kneeling Female” – are thought to be around 1,000 years old.
They were returned from the collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
At the ceremony in Bangkok, the museum’s curator of Asian and Southeast Asian art John Guy called the works “unrivaled masterpieces “ of their period and said the handover was “a very meaningful moment to recognize the importance of the art of Thailand in world culture.”
The Met bought the statues from British art dealer Douglas Latchford, a well-known antiquities collector and dealer, who was later accused of buying and selling looted artifacts.
He died in 2020.
He denied any involvement in smuggling.
This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the U.S. and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval.
AP video by Jerry Harmer
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