U.S. Seeks to Return 10th-Century ‘Masterpiece’ Allegedly Looted from Cambodia

U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday that they were attempting to return a 10th-century sculpture that they claimed had been stolen from Cambodia in 1997.

The statue comes from the site of Prasat Krachap, a temple in Koh Ker, which was the capital of the Khmer empire between 928 and 944 C.E. It depicts Skanda, the Hindu god of war, atop a peacock. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York noted that Skanda was rarely depicted in Cambodian art.

In a lawsuit filed on Thursday in the Federal District Court of New York, prosecutors called the work “a masterpiece of Khmer art and a significant part of Cambodian cultural heritage.” The suit was filed in rem, or against the statue itself, which is currently in the possession of the Department of Homeland Security.

In full: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/looted-skanda-statue-cambodia-return-douglas-latchford-1234599141/

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