Three antique sculptures will be returned to India from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art after provenance research found they were illegally removed from temples in Tamil Nadu. India’s Deputy Chief of Mission in the US, Namgya Khampa, signed an agreement with NMAA Director Chase Robinson for the repatriation of a 9th-century Shiva Nataraja bronze, a 12th-century Shiva and Uma (Somaskanda) sculpture, and a 16th-century depiction of Saint Sundarar with Paravi.
The Indian Embassy in the US noted the three antiquities are returning home following the museum’s research. The Shiva Nataraja bronze will remain on loan for public display to provide visitors with insight into India’s artistic and spiritual heritage. The Somaskanda and Saint Sundarar with Paravi sculptures were part of the collection donated by Arthur M. Sackler to the museum in 1987.
Museum-led research, including work by the Photo Archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry, located historic photographs documenting the sculptures in Tamil Nadu temples: the Saint Sundarar with Paravi was photographed at the Shiva Temple in Veerasolapuram village, Kallakuruchi Taluk in 1956; the 12th-century Somaskanda was photographed at the Vishvanatha Temple in Alathur village, Mannarkudi Taluk in 1959; and the Shiva Nataraja was photographed at the Sri Bhava Aushadesvara Temple in Tirutturaippundi Taluk, Thanjavur District in 1957.
The Shiva Nataraja was later acquired by the NMAA from the Doris Wiener Gallery in New York in 2002. After the provenance research established the pieces had been removed illegally, the museum reached the agreement to return them to India.
