The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said Friday that it has agreed to return two huge statues that are believed to have been looted to Cambodia.
The New York Times reports that two executives from the Met were sent to Cambodia to investigate if two pieces of Khmer art dated to the 10th century were stolen from a jungle temple. Cambodian officials were able to provide enough documentation that showed that this was true and that the pieces were taken during the country’s civil war in the 1970s.
The Koh Ker statues, which are known as Kneeling Attendants, have been on display at the Met since 1994, at the entrance to the Southeast Asian galleries. The museum received them as gifts in 1987 and 1992 and each stature was split in two pieces - a torso and head.
“The museum is committed to applying rigorous provenance standards not only to new acquisitions, but to the study of works long in its collections in an ongoing effort to learn as much as possible about ownership history,” museum director Thomas Campbell said in a statement, reports The AFP. “This is a case in which additional information regarding the 'Kneeling Attendants' has led the museum to consider facts that were not known at the time of the acquisition and to take the action we are announcing today.”
Chan Tani of Cambodia’s Office of the Council of Ministers told The Times that the move “shows the high ethical standards and professional practices of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which they are known for.”
Cambodian officials also visited the Met in March, taking pictures of other Khmer art with plans to look into two dozen objects.
The news comes as auction house Sotheby’s is set to auction off a 10th century piece that Cambodian officials say was also stolen and is from the same group as the Kneeling Attendants. U.S. officials filed a lawsuit to get the statue for Cambodia and the case is headed to court. The auction house claims that the owner bought it in 1975 and isn’t aware of Cambodia’s claim. “The Met’s voluntary agreement does not shed any light on the key issues in our case,” Sotheby’s told the Times.