via The United States Attorney’s Office, 10 February 2021: Lintels on display at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum will be returned after a civil forfeiture by the US Departmen of Justice, after they were traced to Prasat Nong Hong in Buriram Province and Prasat Khao Lon Temple in Sa Kaeo Province. The forfeiture was the culimnation of a lawsuit that was filed last year, although the museum already had plans to return the lintels earlier. Other news stories indexed below.
The United States obtained a settlement in its lawsuit today in which the City and County of San Francisco consented to the forfeiture of its two Thai lintels to the United States, announced United States Attorney David L. Anderson of the Northern District of California and Homeland Security Investigations (NorCal) Special Agent in Charge Tatum King.
On October 27, 2020, the United States filed a complaint to forfeit the two Thai lintels which are housed in and have been displayed at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. The Thai lintels are two 1,500-pound hand-carved decorative relics which, according to the complaint, were originally part of ancient religious temples in Thailand and are prime examples of the decorative lintel and material art traditions of Southeast Asian art. These religiously-significant lintels are alleged to have been exported from Thailand in violation of Thai law over 50 years ago and thereafter were donated to San Francisco and displayed at its Asian Art Museum.
In 2017, the United States learned about the illegal exportation from Thailand of these relics, which renders them forfeitable under federal law, as the complaint alleges. The United States and the City and County of San Francisco entered into a settlement agreement, today signed by U.S. District Court Magistrate Donna M. Ryu, in which San Francisco consents to the forfeiture to the United States of the Thai lintels and, upon the completion of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s deaccessioning process, their repatriation to Thailand. The United States will thereafter coordinate with Thai authorities to ensure the safe return of the lintels to Thailand.
See aso:
- San Francisco Museum Agrees to Return Thai Relics | Courthouse news, 10 Feb 2021
- Two looted pieces of history on their way back to Thailand | Coconuts Bangkok, 11 Feb 2021
- The US agrees to return 2 Thai relics that were questionably obtained and held in the San Francisco Asian Art Museum | Business Insider ,12 Feb 2021
- The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Has Agreed to Return Ancient Thai Relics | The Observer, 13 Feb 2021
- US museum gives up Thai lintels stolen in 1960s | Bangkok Post, 14 Feb 2021
- US to return two sandstone lintels smuggled out of Thailand over 50 years ago | Pattaya Mail, 17 February 2021
