The case of two 10th-century statues looted from a temple in Koh Ker, Preah Vihear province, which New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) has agreed to return to Cambodia, could lead to the return of more statues, an expert said Monday.
“This can inspire other museums who have sculptures from the same temples in Koh Ker to return [the artifacts],” said Cambodia’s Unesco representative, Anne Lemaistre.
Starting in 1967, the temples of Koh Ker, a former capital of the Angkor empire, were systematically looted, and not a single statue in the vast complex was left.
However, Harold Holzer, the Met’s senior vice president for external affairs, disagreed that decision to return the “Kneeling Attendants” would set a precedent.
“The research into the origins of the ‘Kneeling Attendants’ was convincing, but establishes no precedent for other objects. We consider each on a case-by-case basis,” he said, adding that research into some other artifacts was ongoing. The museum displays a large number of Khmer artifacts in its Southeast Asian Gallery.
Mr. Holzer also said that no date had been established for the return of the 1.2 meter tall statues to Cambodia—where they will be housed in the National Museum.
“We are waiting for word from… Cambodia to determine their preferred delivery schedule,” he said.
Ms. Lemaistre said that the number of stolen antiquities on display in international museums was unknown, but that artifacts from the vast temple complex in Koh Ker were most likely stolen. “More or less, all [Koh Kher artifacts] were removed at the same time, and there are many museums who have sculptures from Koh Ker—I don’t want to throw names…but mostly in the Americas,” Ms. Lemaistre said.
Cambodia has asked the U.S. government for help in getting back a warrior statue from the Norton Simon Museum and is currently involved in a case in U.S. courts to get auction house Sotheby’s to return a matching statue Cambodia claims was looted from Koh Ker.
