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SYDNEY: Australia’s national gallery said on Thursday (Aug 3) it will return three sculptures to Cambodia after an investigation found they were likely to have been “illegally exported” from the country.
The bronze sculptures from the 9th to 10th century were bought for US$1.5 million in 2011 by British art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was later “convincingly implicated in the illegal trade of antiquities”, the gallery said.
Latchford died in 2020, a year after being charged with trafficking in stolen and looted Cambodian antiquities. Charges have also been laid posthumously related to works of art he sold, the gallery said.
At a handover ceremony, Susan Templeman, Australia’s special envoy for the arts, said handing the sculptures back to Cambodia was “an opportunity to put right a historical wrong”.
She said the Cambodian government had worked with Australia on the issue with a “cooperative spirit and graciousness”.
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