A 10th-century Shiva Nataraja, a 12th-century Somaskanda statue of Shiva with his family, and a 16th-century image of the poet-saint Sundarar with his consort Paravai will be handed over to the Indian government.<\/p>\n
A museum spokesperson told The Independent the decision to return the statues followed extensive research into their origin.<\/p>\n
This involved examining \u201carchival records, dealer documentation and photograph evidence, including images taken in situ at temples in Tamil Nadu<\/a>, which confirmed these sculptures had been removed without authorisation in the mid 20th century\u201d.<\/p>\n According to the museum, the history of the statues became clear after it undertook a review of its South Asian collection. Photographs preserved in the Photo Archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry placed the sculptures in temples in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu between 1956 and 1959.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Somaskanda (National Museum of Asian Art)<\/p>\n The museum shared the findings with Indian authorities and worked with them to advance the repatriation of the sculptures.<\/p>\n The Shiva Nataraja, depicting the Hindu deity as the cosmic dancer, will remain on display in Washington as part of an ongoing exhibition on loan from India. This will enable the museum to \u201cshare the full history of the sculpture with the public, from its creation to its return\u201d. \u201cIn the galleries, the object will be interpreted transparently, with clear context about its origins and the collaborative process that led to its return, emphasising ethical stewardship and shared responsibility,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n However, this arrangement has raised questions about who has the authority to lend the sculpture<\/a>. <\/p>\n Vijay Kumar, co-founder of India Pride Project, <\/a>a volunteer group <\/a>which investigates stolen Indian antiquities<\/a> and works with authorities to ensure their repatriation, told Hyperallergic <\/a>that temple bronzes weren\u2019t state property. \u201cIt is a well-settled matter that bronzes are property of the temple<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the government of India has no ownership over them to offer as a long-term loan. The \u2018Nataraja\u2019 was stolen from the Tirutturaipoondi temple and the temple is very much ready to receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Shiva Nataraja (National Museum of Asian Art)<\/p>\n The National Museum of Asian Art acquired the Nataraja in 2002 from New York\u2019s Doris Wiener Gallery, considered a leading dealer in Asian antiquities before it was implicated in selling looted artefacts.<\/p>\n Researchers found the gallery had provided falsified documentation to facilitate the sale.<\/p>\n According to Hyperallergic, India Pride Project researchers examined the sculpture\u2019s provenance records published by the museum and found that Doris Wiener had purchased it in 1973 from Rajrama Art Gallery in London \u2013 after India passed its Antiquities and Art Treasures Act to prohibit any export of antiquities without government authorisation \u2013 but claimed in correspondence with a curator the purchase had taken place in 1972.<\/p>\n According to the museum, there\u2019s photographic evidence of the Shiva Nataraja at the Sri Bhava Aushadesvara temple in Tirutturaipoondi in 1957 before its appearance on the art market.<\/p>\n The Independent has contacted India\u2019s culture ministry for comment on the long-term loan of the Nataraja and its plans for the other two sculptures.<\/p>\n The other two bronzes will be handed over to the Indian embassy in Washington for return. They were part of a collection of 1,000 objects donated to the Smithsonian in 1987 by the pharmaceutical magnate Arthur M Sackler to inaugurate his namesake gallery.<\/p>\n According to the museum, its researchers found pictures in the archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry that showed the Somaskanda at the Visvanatha Temple in Tamil Nadu\u2019s Alattur village in 1959 and the Sundarar statue at the Shiva Temple in Veerasolapuram village in 1956. <\/p>\n The images confirmed the sculptures had been illegally removed from the temples.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Saint Sundarar with Paravai (National Museum of Asian Art)<\/p>\n The museum\u2019s director, Chase F Robinson, said the return of the sculptures reflected the institution\u2019s commitment to ethical collecting. \u201cThe National Museum of Asian Art is committed to stewarding cultural heritage responsibly and advancing transparency in our collection,\u201d he said, adding its research had \u201cestablished field-defining practices for research on Asian art provenance and object histories\u201d.<\/p>\n The American museum\u2019s decision comes as British institutions face ongoing demands <\/a>for the return of artefacts taken from former colonies<\/a> or removed through illicit trade<\/a>. Oxford University\u2019s Ashmolean Museum has agreed<\/a> to return a 15th-century bronze statue of the Tamil saint Tirumankai Alvar to India<\/a>, subject to approval by the Charity Commission.<\/p>\n The British Museum, which holds the Parthenon sculptures taken from Greece<\/a> in the 19th century, has faced pressure from the Greek government for their return<\/a>, though it has said legal restrictions prevent permanent restitution. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-403814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Somaskanda\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/S1987-907a-e_001.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Shiva](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/F2003-2_horizontal.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Saint](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/S1987-902_001.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n