Buddha statue found to have been stolen will be returned to In...

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/05/budd...

Buddha statue found to have been stolen

will be returned to India
Kushan Buddha statue, dating from second century, will be the third artwork to be
repatriated from Australia to India in a year

The red sandstone Buddha, originally from the Uttar Pradesh region of India, was bought for the NGA in 2007.
Photograph: National Gallery of Australia

Oliver Milman
Sunday 4 January 2015 23.12GMT

Australia is set to return a third artwork to India in a year, with a stone Buddha statue
to be repatriated after the National Gallery of Australia realised it was stolen.
The Kushan Buddha statue, dating from the second century, will soon be returned by
the gallery after it emerged the piece had been stolen from an archaeological site in
India, the Times of India reported.
The red sandstone Buddha, originally from the Uttar Pradesh region of India, was
bought for the NGA in 2007 using funds provided by the arts benefactor Roslyn
Packer.
The Kushan Buddha is the third ancient Indian artwork to be returned by the Abbott
government.
Last year, the Australian prime minister used a meeting with the Indian prime
minister to return a $5.6m, 900-year-old bronze dancing Shiva and a $300,000 stone
carving of Shiva with Nandi to the Indian government.
Both of those artefacts were bought from the disgraced Indian art dealer Subhash

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Buddha statue found to have been stolen will be returned to In...

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/05/budd...

Kapoor, who is in prison in the US awaiting trial. But it is understood the Buddha
statue was bought from another dealer.
In November, the NGA launched an investigation into the provenance of its Asian art
collection, which comprises about 5,000 items.
The NGA said a preliminary assessment had earmarked 54 signicant south Asian
works for further investigation into how they ended up in the collection. It expected
this work might take several years.
The NGA did not respond to a request to comment on the return of the Buddha, but in
December its new director, Gerard Vaughan, called the theft of items from India
regrettable.
The return of improperly obtained artworks has been a key part of Australian eorts
to strengthen relations with India, along with initiatives such as allowing uranium
sales and direct ights between the two countries.
The elections of Abbott and the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi within eight
months of each other led to a warming of relations between the two nations.
In November, Modi became the rst Indian prime minister in 28 years to visit
Australia. He praised Abbotts leadership and said Australia was no longer on the
periphery of our region but at the heart of our thoughts.
An Indian government ocial said the National Museum in Delhi was working with
the government to eect the handover of the Buddha, the Times of India reported.

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