A second Australian art gallery has removed from display a centuries-old
statue following allegations the artefact was stolen from an ancient
site in India and sold by a tainted Indian art dealer.
The decision by the Art Gallery of New South Wales (NSW) follows a
similar move by Canberra-based National Gallery of Australia that on
Monday, pulled from display the bronze $5.6-million statue, purchased in
2008 from New York art and antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor.
The stone Ardhanrishvara idol was sold to the NSW Art Gallery at a price of over $300,000 from Kapoors in 2004.
Both the statues — allegedly stolen and sold by Kapoor, who is on trial
in Chennai for running antiquities smuggling — were removed from display
following written requests from Indian government to return them back.
“The request for the return of the Ardhanariswara Idol is now a matter
for the Australian Government through the Ministry for the Arts in the
Attorney-General’s Department,” the Art Gallery of NSW said in a
statement.
The gallery said the item has been removed and that it will continue to
cooperate fully with the Australian government and relevant authorities
towards a resolution.
Reacting to the issue, Chairman AusHeritage and CEO India Vision
Institute Vinod Daniel said the two galleries should return the statues
to India calling it “the appropriate thing to do.”
“The appropriate thing for these galleries to do is to repatriate these
cultural objects back to India, especially for objects such as the
‘Dancing Shiva’ which would have been used for worship in Tamil Nadu,”
he said.
Daniel said the Australian Museum in 2000 had sent 33 three objects back to the Government Museum in Chennai.
Attorney-General’s Department is currently processing the Indian
government’s request of returning the allegedly stolen artefacts.
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