The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) announced Yesterday that it brought back 12th-century stone sculpture “Buddha sheltered by the snake child Muchalinda” to the land of origin, Nepal. Since the intensification of his origin research focus in 2020The museum has recently taken steps to repatriate different cultural objects in its collection, such as a 12th-century fragment From a pilaster to Thailand, who was previously attributed to Cambodia last summer.
The Buddha statue was the first identified Due to the online heritage activist group, Arts or Nepal lost in 2021 as the matching of a statue stolen by Guita Toole in Patan, Kathmandu.
The holy statue is part of the rich heritage of Nepal, which includes historical locations, cultural practices and religious traditions that continue to play an active role in the daily lives of his people despite the Continuous threat of looting.
The AIC obtained the statue from Marilynn Alsdorf in 2014, which was celebrated with her husband James for their extensive Asian art collection. This origin information is particularly lacking in that of the Artefact Collection on the museum website. The ALDORF collection has recently been undergone strict supervision: An extensive report Partly published by Propublica And Crain’s Chicago Business claimed that different objects were donated to the Art Institute of Chicago by the ALDORF pair, were looted from Nepal. Other objects Donated by the Aldorfs to large American museums have already been repatriated.
According to the press release of the museum, the statue was already “on regular view in museum galleries and in historical exhibitions” since 1997, despite the fact that unauthorized removal, trade and export of cultural objects have been illegal under Nepali legislation since 1956.
In response to HyperallergicThe request for comments, an AIC spokesperson said that “the museum is dedicated to prioritizing origin research between departments and is committed to investigating each object in its collection.”
“This work is complex and can take a lot of time, but this last return is a demonstration of our dedication to take action when we learn new information,” said the spokesperson.
Last December, the AIC appointed Jacques Schuhmacher as his very first executive director of Provance Research. In the press release about the return of the Nepalese sculpture, Schuhmacher mentions “proactive outreach and cooperation with countries and communities” and “cooperation with our colleagues from Nepal.”
The statement does not credit the online detective noses that the statue has early, or the Nepal Heritage Recovery -campaignWhat has played an important role in holding our museums responsible for the origin of their Nepalese collections.
“The excellent research team of AIC must visit Nepal so that they can understand that all Nepalese antiquities are stolen from places of worship,” said a representative for Lost Arts or Nepal told Hyperallergic.
Erin Thompson, professor of art crime at John Jay College and a Hyperallergic Contributors, said museums “should acknowledge the bigger problem instead of congratulating themselves with small solutions.”
“How can a museum beat up for ‘strategic and rigorous research’ when it depends on the unpaid, non -attracted work of Bronland researchers and when dozens of artifacts from the same red flag sources apparently are not being investigated in his collection?” Thompson said Hyperallergic.
Multiple Nepali objects remain in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, including a registered gilded copper chain from the Taleju temple of Kathmandu. The Taleju necklace, a gift of the Alsdorf Foundation, was First identified Because they were looted from Kathmandu in 2021, and since then, activists have increased a significant audience of awareness and support for their repatriation.