Cambodia Says the Met Museum Has Dozens of Its Looted Antiquities

via the New York Times, 24 October 2021: Cambodia has identified 45 pieces in possession by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and are seeking their repatriation on new evidence that they were stolen.

Cambodia has begun to press the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan to document how it acquired dozens of Khmer Empire antiquities that Cambodian officials, citing new evidence, believe were looted during the country’s decades of war and tumult.

Although Cambodia has pushed the Met and other museums in recent years for the return of individual statues and sculptures it says were pillaged between 1970 and 2000, this effort is far broader. Cambodian officials said they have developed a spreadsheet of 45 “highly significant” items at the Met that the evidence suggests were stolen before being donated or sold to the museum.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which has previously assisted Cambodia in recovering illicit antiquities, met with museum staff members last week to request they review the provenance of a number of the items, Cambodian officials said.

Source: Cambodia Says the Met Museum Has Dozens of Its Looted Antiquities – The New York Times

See also:

• Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in Manhattan holds scores of Cambodia’s stolen antiquities | Khmer Times, 25 Oct 2021
• After Pandora Papers, Met officials contacted U.S. attorneys about relics Cambodia says were stolen | ICIJ, 25 October 2021