Title

Foreign Governments to Return StolenArt to India

Short Title

Secret-networks and government-action lead to

recovering smuggled statues and artefacts back to
India

Keywords

Art, Antiques, India, Smuggling, Art-mafia, Chola, Bronzes, Narendra Modi,

Tony Abbott, Mahesh Sharma, Subhash Kapoor, Art of the Past, Kushana
Buddha, Antiquities Act, Archaeological Survey of India, ASI, Temple,
Statues,

Main Text

Priceless statues and artifacts that have been looted and smuggled out of
India are to be returned by foreign agencies and museums as a gesture of
goodwill. These atrifacts, were sold for millions of dollars through reputable
art-galleries in London and New York over the last few decades.
However, recent efforts by a secretive organisation called India Pride
Project (IPP), has resulted in their identification and return to India. Using
visual-mapping, data-tools and documentary evidence, IPP has been able to
publically establish the illegal nature of the antique pieces and their true
provenance to Indian temples and museums.
Mr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister for Culture, in a written reply to the Parliament
announced that many such statues are to be returned to India soon. Other
antiques to be brought back from abroad include Chola bronze statue from
Singapore, sculpture of Gadgach Temple, 10th century Dancing Ganesha,
Vishnu riding on Garuda, Bharhut sculpture, Uma and Ganesha from USA.
He said government has approached the foreign countries through the
Missions abroad for the retrieval of Indian antiques.
Earlier in 2014, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott brought back two
statues and gifted them to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Delhi. These
statues were stolen from Indian temples in Tamil Nadu and illegally sold to
the National Museum of Australia by a New York based dealer.
Some of these statues were traced and matched by the team at India Pride
Project who then provided this data to museums and agencies that had
purchased stolen property based on false documentation. The team at India
Pride Project also liaised with international agencies and media to create
civic pressure on these museums to respectfully return these artifacts to
India.
A Singapore museum that paid a Madison Avenue art dealer $1.4 million for
antiquities of apparently questionable provenance is suing for
reimbursement. Asian Civilisations Museum, based in Singapore, and the
National Heritage Board of Singapore made the allegations in a March 17
summons with notice in Manhattan Supreme Court against Art of the Past
Inc.; Subhash Kapoor and Aaron Freedman.
Subhash Kapoors impressive client list includes the Metropolitan Museum
of Art; the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif.; and the Smithsonian
Institution's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in
Washington.
The India Pride Project continues to track thousands of such antiques of
religious and social importance.

About

About India Pride Project ( http://ipp.org.in/ )

IPP is a secret network of art-historians, legal-experts and internationalprofessionals working towards identifying and recovering art & artifacts that

have been looted and smuggled out of India.

Leveraging on subject-matter-experts and international networks, IPP traces
stolen art and conducts back-room negotiations with foreign agencies and
museums; to respectfully recover and reinstate Indian art.
Contact: buzz@ipp.org.in
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndiaPrideProj
Web:
http://ipp.org.in/