US returns two stolen 8th-century bronze statues to Indonesia - ANTARA News Jawa Timur

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The United States Attorney's Office announced the return of two bronze statues stolen from Indonesia, according to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on Friday, July 10.

"We will continue to partner with HSI to end callous profiteering from stolen artworks of cultural significance," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in an embassy press release.

He said he thanked the collectors of the works for their voluntary safe return, noting that it was a source of pride for them to return the artworks to their homeland.

"This Office is committed to thwarting the illicit trafficking of looted and stolen art and antiquities," Clayton emphasized.

The antiquities officially returned to Indonesia during a repatriation ceremony at the Indonesian Consulate General in New York on Friday were two bronze statues of Avalokiteshvara Buddha in a standing position.

The bronze statues date from the 8th century, each measuring approximately 16 and 20 inches (around 41 and 51 centimeters) tall.

The statues were illegally taken from archaeological sites in Indonesia by a group of looters several decades ago and then sold to Douglas Latchford, a Bangkok, Thailand-based collector.

Latchford sold those historical objects, along with other Southeast Asian antiquities, to a U.S. collector between 2003 and 2007, while concealing the fact that they were stolen.

Around the end of 2021, the collector voluntarily returned a total of 34 antiquities from Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries that he had purchased from Latchford. Of those 34, two were bronze statues from Indonesia.

The two bronze statues returned to Indonesia were the subject of a civil asset forfeiture lawsuit filed in New York, United States v. A Late 12th Century Bayon-Style Sandstone Sculpture Depicting Eight-Armed Avalokiteshvara, et al., 22 Civ. 229 (JMF).

The two statues are identified as "Sculpture-12" and "Sculpture-27" in the civil forfeiture lawsuit.

Since 2012, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, working with HSI, has successfully investigated, identified, and repatriated dozens of stolen and smuggled antiquities previously owned by various individuals and institutions in the United States.

In 2019, Latchford was indicted in the Southern District of New York for orchestrating a multi-year scheme to sell looted antiquities from Southeast Asian countries on the international art market. The indictment was ultimately dismissed following Latchford's death.

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