Roundup: Were photos from a billionaire home altered to hide stolen antiquities?

via Washington Post and other sources, 15 August 2022: The home of a billionaire family featured in the Architectural Digest was altered digitally to remove Khmer artifacts, prompting the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts to investigate if they were looted sculptures.

The January 2021 issue of Architectural Digest featured a remodeled $42 million San Francisco residence described as a Spanish Renaissance Revival palacio.

Owned by a billionaire’s daughter and her husband, the home is “theatrical” and has “been described, with good reason, as the most beautiful house in America,” the luxury magazine said.

Accompanying photos detailed its opulence — mirrored pilasters, walls paneled with white onyx, remarkable views of the San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge.

One particularly impressive image showed a two-story central courtyard with several empty pedestals off to one side. The pedestals weren’t actually empty, though: The photo had been altered. Another version, discovered by reporters on the website of the home’s architect, shows ancient Khmer sculptures resting on the same pedestals.

The Cambodian government says those stone relics, depicting the heads of gods and demons, match a set that was looted years ago from one of the nation’s sacred sites. It is not known who modified the photo or for what reason, but experts interviewed for this story confirmed that the sculptures had been edited out of the magazine image.

Source: An altered photo in Architectural Digest hid Asian relics – The Washington Post