In a significant move to repatriate cultural heritage, the United States announced the return of over 1,400 looted artefacts valued at 10 million dollars to India. The items, part of an ongoing initiative to restore stolen art to South and Southeast Asia, include pieces recently displayed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among the returned treasures is a sandstone sculpture of a celestial dancer, illicitly transported from central India to London before being sold to a Met patron and subsequently donated to the museum.
Manhattan District Attorney’s Office revealed the recovery was the result of ‘several ongoing investigations’ targeting looting networks, including those run by convicted art traffickers Nancy Wiener and Subhash Kapoor. Kapoor, a former antiquities dealer, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for managing a multimillion-dollar looting operation through his New York gallery. After his arrest in Germany in 2011, Kapoor was extradited to India, where he awaits further legal proceedings and extradition to the US.
According to several media sources, William Walker, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations in New York, described the event as a milestone in the multiyear international effort to dismantle Kapoor’s vast network. A formal handover ceremony took place at the Indian consulate in New York, underscoring the strengthened cultural ties between the two nations. This development follows the US-India agreement signed in July to combat illegal trading of cultural property and expedite the return of stolen artefacts.
Just two months earlier, the US had returned 297 artefacts to India, spanning 4,000 years from 2000 BCE to 1900 CE. These items originated from across India, with many terracotta pieces from Eastern India, alongside stone, metal, wood, and ivory artefacts. The Ministry of External Affairs noted that since 2016, the US has repatriated 578 cultural items to India, the largest number returned by any single country. Notable instances include the return of 10 antiquities during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit in 2016, 157 in 2021, and 105 in 2022. The restitution of these artefacts reflects a growing emphasis on cultural cooperation between India and the US, marking a positive chapter in the preservation of global heritage.
