Ashmolean Museum questioned over looted Cambodian artefacts

via Cherwell, 13 November 2022: Coverage on the recent Cambodian delegation visit to UK museums, by the Oxford newspaper.

The Cambodian government has called on British museums to return statues and artworks that were looted during a period of civil war and political unrest between 1975-1979. The looted pieces are scattered amongst the Western art scene after being smuggled to art markets. Cambodia’s ministry of culture is attempting to enable their return in a drawn-out and complex process.

As part of this investigation, a 10th century statue in Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum has been called into question by Cambodian government delegates. The statue, in the “India from 600” room, came into the museum’s permanent collection in 1999 and depicts the Buddhist deity of wisdom Prajnaparamita holding a rosary and a sacred text in her upper hands.

Having once stood within a temple site called Prasat Ta Muen Thom temple, the statue’s journey to the UK has aroused concern over its provenance. The temple site was controlled and looted by the Khmer Rouge during its brutal regime in the 20th century. Cultural looting came to fund guerrilla campaigns, and the temple’s abundant treasures have since made their way into the black market. The statue has been deemed “highly suspicious” by Brad Gordon, the Cambodian delegation’s legal adviser for its arrival at the Ashmolean in the 90’s. The area was “a no-go zone well into the 90’s” according to Gordon. Documents have been requested to detail the statue’s arrival at the museum, to explain how the plundered object has made its way into a collection in the West.

Source: Ashmolean Museum questioned over looted Cambodian artefacts – Cherwell