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description= The Hunt for Looted Antiquities in the World s Museums;
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similar sculpture of a seated buddha wiener has displayed images of a third kushan buddha on her gallery s website the current location of that buddha is not known wiener has not responded to repeated requests for comment in the past another similar buddha is on display at the carlos museum at emory university that seated buddha was acquired as a gift of the nathan rubin ida ladd family foundation which is known to have acquired objects from kapoor kapoor objects the two other objects returned monday are both from subhash kapoor and were linked to objects stolen from indian temples by researcher vijay kumar of the indian pride project in 2005 kapoor sold both objects to the nga for 1 5 million one was an 1800 year old limestone carving depicting a scene from the life of buddha kapoor told the museum the sculpture of the buddha s life had been in a private japanese collection until 1999 but in july we published this photo of the showing the unrestored sculpture as it appears in kapoor s archives soon after it was stolen by thieves the second kapoor object due to be returned in the ceremony monday was a 1000 year old stone goddess pratyangira or lion lady kapoor claimed the sculpture had been in the collection of his onetime girlfriend selina mohamed since 1990 but as we first reported in july 2016 photos and records found in kapoor s files show the pratyangira was in mumbai india in 2002 kumar has linked the object to vriddhachlam the same temple that the art gallery of new south wales shiva was taken from investigators believe kapoor obtained the two objects from a chennai art dealer named deena dayalan who has operated an art gallery there since 1965 and is suspected of being a major player in the theft and smuggling of antiquities from the region indian authorities raided dayalan s properties in july and seized substantial evidence that may have led to monday s returns share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading 6 comments posted in news tagged asian civilizations museum deena dayalan kushan buddha mahesh sharma mitch fifield national gallery of australia selina mohamed subhash kapoor vijay kumar the missing link subhash kapoor s suppliers in india are finally getting rolled up posted on july 3 2016 3 comments update september 2016 indian media report that a temple thief who worked for deena dayalan has been accused of murdering a fellow thief after a dispute over 13 idols they took from a temple in 2005 in a series of aggressive police raids over the past month indian authorities have disrupted a large network of alleged thieves and smugglers that for decades has plundered ancient temples from chennai to mumbai to supply the international art market the raids started on may 31st with the arrest of three men at a chennai warehouse or godown in the indian parlance the men were employees of an 84 year old art dealer named deena dayalan who has operated a chennai art gallery since 1965 indian and american authorities believe dayalan has long been a major player in the theft and smuggling of antiquities from south india deena dayalan via indian express dayalan disappeared after the raid but turned himself in a few days later he is said to have confessed during an interrogation and listed his associates and storage facilities across india subsequent raids on his properties uncovered hundreds of artifacts including 49 bronzes 71 stone carvings and 96 paintings and hundreds of smaller objects including ivory and wood carvings lamps figurines and ornamental pillars as reported by frontline the hindu newspaper s weekly magazine policemen entering dayalan s house were stunned by the scope of his haul it looked like a temple one investigator told frontline besides the idols and artefacts there were pamphlets and books on temple idols and archtecture the pillars of his house could be from some old temples there were wooden sculptures and two elephant heads at the entrance said an officer the rai d was not dayalan s first run in with the law frontline reported the dealer was accused of being behind the 2005 break in at the ancient sri narum poonathar temple at paluvoor village in tirunelveli where 13 bronze idols were stolen after the theft an accomplice was murdered in a dispute over efforts to extract gold from two and a half foot bronze nataraja which was sawn in half in the process dayalan was released on bail and the case is on going update 7 4 16 the tamil nadu idol wing has seized 200 objects from lakshmi narayanan an associate of dayalan authorities found 56 were metal idols 103 stone idols and 47 temple vahanas decorative platforms used to carry the deity in processions the hindu reports narayanan was arrested and will face charges of idol theft the police raids have now spread beyond tamil nadu are likely to continue in the coming weeks that authorities unravel the smuggling network and sort through voluminous evidence authorities have identified the courier service that dayalan used to transport objects within india and seized his laptop a desktop computer and storage drives he allegedly labeled his stolen artifacts as modern handicrafts before they were smuggled out of india through mumbai where an unnamed boss in the illicit trade remains at large the investigation promises to give investigators what one indian paper called a glimpse of the man s murky business with several smuggling cartels across the globe as the hindu noted in an editorial the meticulously organised nature of this shadowy business hints at the deep and vast network of idol thieves who have plied their trade across not only tamil nadu but numerous other indian states and even broader territories of south and south east asia the kapoor link investigators are still looking for links between dayalan and one of his prominent american clients subhash kapoor the manhattan antiquities dealer now standing trial in india for selling stolen antiquities to museums around the world we have not got clinching evidence to prove his link with the international idol smuggler subhash kapoor one investigator told the times of india we can help the following document links dhayalan to kapoor and hints at the extensive business relationship they are believed to have had the document records dayalan s 2007 request for a payment of usd 11 400 from kapoor s nimbus import export through selva export one of the chennai export companies they used to transport artifacts it is still unclear whether that amount was paid what object s were purchased for the sum and where those objects are today but authorities have already identified dayalan as the source of one stolen kapoor object that has already been returned to india the art gallery of new south wales sculpture of ardhanarishvara whose origins we revealed in 2013 the agnsw purchased the sculpture for 300 000 after kapoor provided documents claiming it had left india in the 1970s but vijay kumar of the india pride project identified images that showed the sculpture in situ at the vriddhachalam temple at least four years after 1970 a subsequent police investigation concluded it had been stolen in 2002 by dayalan and replaced by a knockoff that villagers continued to worship dayalan is believed to have supplied kapoor with a number of objects from south india as michaela boland reported sunday in the australian dayalan is believed to have supplied kapoor with two other objects that landed in the national gallery of australia an 1800 year old limestone carving depicting a scene from the life of buddha and a 1000 year old stone goddess pratyangira purchased together from kapoor in 2005 for 1 5 million kapoor told the museum the sculpture of the buddha s life had been in a private japanese collection until 1999 but this photo found in kapoor s archives shows the unrestored sculpture above soon after it was stolen by thieves a similar tale emerges on the nga s pratyangira kapoor claimed it had been in the collection of selina mohamed his onetime girlfriend since 1990 but photos and records found in kapoor s files show the pratyangira was still in mumbai india in 2002 below at left we see the nga s pratyangira as offered in a kapoor catalog and at right the same sculpture before it left india note the identical missing segments from the figure s left elbow amaravati objects investigators believe dayalan may have been behind looting of material from amaravati an important archeological site in andhra pradesh where dayalan grew up items seized from his warehouses include amaravati architectural fragments dayalan may well have been the source of amaravati fragments that kapoor sold to the asian civilizations museum in singapore as we wrote in 2014 kapoor sold the acm a 3rd century limestone fragment from amaravati in october 1997 for 22 500 his accompanying description suggests he had detailed knowledge of the find spot examples from the amaravait stuppa are extremely rare to find he wrote this particular piece does not come from the stuppa proper but from the outer rail copings that surrounded the stuppa it is an exceptional example in both its size and in its illustrative qualities the iconography of this fragment makes this a most interesting piece from the amaravati area long time coming the indian raids are long overdue records show american authorities provided detailed evidence about kapoor s indian suppliers as far back as 2014 india s failure to act on those leads despite repeated urging from american authorities and others has been one of several troubling signs in the long delayed criminal trial of kapoor as kumar recounted in an article about the investigation by ice u s special agent brent easter for too long the red tape of indian bureaucracy and the ill equipped custodians have sent him on wild goose chases including multiple weeks in hot and sultry india with promises of arrests of the bad guys frustrating when he has done all the hard work and with irrefutable proof of the bad guys shipping documents email exchanges and bank transfers to see the patchy attempts in delaying and letting the actual crooks off the hook it is likely no coincidence that the indian raids were launched just days before u s attorney general loretta lynch announced the return of 200 looted antiquities to india during the state visit of prime minister narendra modi the returns many of which had been seized from kapoor or his clients may have been used as leverage with india to ensure kapoor s suppliers were nabbed on the right below is the toledo ganesh which kumar first revealed as looted in a 2013 post the raids have also underscored the need to expand india s domestic enforcement efforts the country s only dedicated art police is the tamil nadu idol wing led by inspector general a g pon manickavel is now chasing leads across india and international borders the country desperately needs to develop a national police force dedicated to protecting its oft purloined cultural heritage government agencies should also work more closely with civil society groups like kumar s india pride project which has worked tirelessly over the past years to identify stolen antiquities and bring them home often while cajoling government officials to do more the willingness of indian officials to crack down on the illicit antiquities trade within their borders will be measured largely by the aggressiveness with which they chase the leads they have gathered from deena dhayalan share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading 3 comments posted in news uncategorized tagged amaravati art gallery of new south wales asian civilizations museum brent easter deena dayalan loretta lynch michaela boland narendra modi national gallery of australia pon manickavel selina mohamed subhash kapoor vijay kumar the lessons of palmyra iconoclasm in the era of clickbait posted on april 7 2016 7 comments last december i was invited to harvard to participate in a round table on isis and iconoclasm the event organized by archaeologist bastien varoutsikos and sponsored by harvard s standing committee on archaeology sparked a fascinating discussion of iconoclasm through the ages putting the destructive impulse of the islamic state into a context that i for one had been missing the speakers included harvard s james simpson author of under the hammer iconoclasm in the anglo american tradition who offered a reminder that iconoclasm is a central strand in western history this is not the other simpson said this is us we ve been here peter der manuelian director of harvard s semitic museum discussed iconoclasm in ancient egypt and how 3d technology was allowing us to recreate the destroyed past joseph greene also at the semitic museum surveyed the destruction of museums repositories of cultural icons across syria and iraq and matthew liebmann reviewed the smashing of church bells icons of spanish colonization during the pueblo revolts of 17th century new mexico moderating with bastien was clare gillis whose intrepid reporting on the ground in the region with her friend james foley is captured in the must watch documentary about his life and death jim my contribution to the panel was isis and the media iconoclasm in the era of clickbait a review of how the media has covered the iconoclasm of isis in short i argued that isis iconoclasm was largely not exclusively a propaganda effort and that many of us in the media and social media became complicit in their crimes by spreading those images as clickbait with the fall of palmyra to assad forces this month bastien and i decided to revisit the subject in an essay for this week s the art newspaper what follows are excerpts of that essay with a few slides from my harvard presentation the early assessments of damage by isis contain several important lessons for those of us who watched the destruction of palmyra in horror last summer and then shared it virally on social media first they lend credibility to on the ground reports during the city s harrowing occupation that the islamic state s destruction of historical monuments was motivated less by twisted ideology than a far simpler craving for attention in country sources have overheard isil commanders comment that attacking the ancient monuments makes the whole world talk about them noted a september report fr om the american schools for oriental research an archaeological group tasked by the us state department with monitoring heritage destruction in syria and iraq notably the destruction of historical sites had started months earlier after int...
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