According to the Cambodian authorities, the two pairs of sculpture kneeling attendants were illegally exported from the country in 1970. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they were in 1980-90s

Statue minister. Approximately 921-945
Khmer Empire (presumably from the temple complex of Koh Ker)
Source: Cambodia launched an active struggle for their cultural heritage. first peaceful , and now the through the court to return the country is trying to soldier statue, stolen from the temple of Koh Ker in 1970 and has recently fallen into the catalog of Sotheby's . The second sculpture of a soldier standing in Koh Ker in conjunction with the previous one, settled in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and it is also the Cambodian government intends to reclaim .

now turn came to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In his collection there are two pairs of sculpture kneeling ministers taking place, according to experts, from the same temple complex of Koh Ker, who was in the tenth century AD, the capital of the Khmer empire.

Sculptures servants, so well as the sculptures of warriors, porters, were removed from the country illegally in 1970, during the Civil War - says the Cambodian government and a number of European experts. On the side of Cambodia supports the UNESCO representative in Phnom Penh Lemestr Anne (Anne LeMaistre) and the head of the French archaeological expedition in Koh Eric Burdaev Repeater. The arguments in favor of this version are the testimonies of local residents who remember that at the beginning of the war the statues were still in place. Besides the normal road to the monument was built only in the late 1960s, which means that before this time to remove the statue from the jungle was very difficult (each of which weighs 90 kg on).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Sculpture ministers were in pieces. In 1987 and 1989 the museum was given only to heads of statues, and in 1992 were added, and the trunk. Since then, leaning on one knee ministers celebrate the Khmer art gallery in the museum's walls. Detailed documentation on the provenance of the statues in the museum there. All four fragments were given to patrons - spouses and Douglas Handley Letchford, who bought them in a London dealer firm Spink & Son, which specializes in Asian art. In this company documents about the origin of sculpture is also not preserved.

As stated by the Metropolitan, at the time when these purchases were made and donations, it made no sense to send requests to provide information about the statues in the political contradictions torn Cambodia. They would still remain unanswered. According to museum director Harold Goltsera (Harold Holzer), a former curator of Asian art did the right thing by taking sculpture as a gift. Indeed, because of this they became available for study and display. This saved them from oblivion in private collections. Director Goltsera surprised if the statue will require formal return, because by them for their years of exposure was not a Cambodian delegation, but no one has filed any claims the leadership of the museum at their own expense.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI

Sources : artinvestment.ru