VOA标准英语2012--US Government, Sotheby's Battle over Ancient Khmer Warrior Statue
时间：2012-04-13 06:34:28
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US Government, Sotheby's Battle over Ancient Khmer Warrior1 Statue
U.S. prosecutors2 and the Cambodian government say the 1,000-year-old sandstone statue, depicting3 a warrior in the Hindu saga4 The Mahabharata, was looted from the temple of Prasat Chen in the 1960s or 1970s and should be repatriated5. The feet of the statue remain at the temple at Koh Ker, which was briefly6 the capital of ancient Cambodia.
In a civil complaint, federal prosecutors said that Sotheby's knew the statue had been stolen when it offered it for
auction7 last year on behalf of a Belgian client who had bought it in 1975, the first time it was sold publicly. The U.S. filing reads like a magazine story, quoting at length from email exchanged between a Cambodian art expert and Sotheby's.
"According to the
forfeiture8 complaint, Sotheby's was told by the very expert they hired to
authenticate9 and
appraise10 the piece, that it was, quote, 'definitely stolen,'" said Tess Davis, an
antiquities11 lawyer who is advising the Cambodian government. "And the same scholar actually urged them to consider donating it back to the national Museum of Phnom Penh to, quote, 'save everyone some
embarrassment12.'"
In a later email, however, the scholar wrote Sotheby's that it did not appear that Cambodia was requesting the return of all looted artifacts owned by foreign individuals and museums, saying "[I] think that legally and
ethically13 you can happily sell the piece." Sotheby's subsequently featured the statue on its catalog cover. It was expected to sell for up to $3 million.
Peter Neiman, an attorney representing Sotheby's, said the statue was purchased legally by the Belgian collector. "We vigorously dispute the government's allegations," he said after the hearing. "Sotheby's acted in good faith and
compliance14 with the law at all times here, and we expect the evidence is going to show that this is not stolen property, that it belonged to the
consignor15, and Sotheby's acted
perfectly16 appropriately in
consigning17 it for sale."
In a statement, Sotheby's added that the statue might have been missing from its site for as long as 1,000 years. It said that "
condemning18 a public sale process
inevitably19 drives those owners of antiquities toward private transactions, an outcome deeply disadvantageous to any and all who claim to be on the side of sensitive and careful handling of this material."
Davis, however, said that much of Cambodia's ancient art was looted during the
upheaval20 surrounding Cambodia's civil war, and sold to foreign collectors and museums. "I doubt that anyone who has been working in the field of cultural heritage
preservation21 is very surprised by this court proceeding," she said.
The statue, known as the Duryodhana, stood facing another warrior figure, the Bhima, whose feet also remain at the Koh Ker temple site. Davis said challenges to the ownership of that figure, now in the collection of the Norton-Simon Museum in California, might also be raised.
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