The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art will repatriate three historic sculptures to India after provenance research determined they were removed from temples in Tamil Nadu without authorization. The repatriation agreement was signed by India’s Deputy Chief of Mission in the US, Namgya Khampa, and NMAA Director Chase Robinson.
The objects are a 9th-century Shiva Nataraja bronze, a 12th-century Shiva and Uma (Somaskanda) group, and a 16th-century depiction of the saint Sundarar with Paravi. The museum said the Shiva Nataraja bronze will remain on loan so it can continue to be displayed for the public, providing insight into India’s artistic and spiritual heritage. The Somaskanda and the Sundarar with Paravi sculptures were part of a collection donated to the museum by Arthur M. Sackler in 1987.
Museum-led provenance work, which included consultation of the Photo Archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry, located historic photographs showing the sculptures in Tamil Nadu temples. Those images show the Sundarar with Paravi at the Shiva Temple in Veerasolapuram village, Kallakuruchi Taluk (photographed in 1956); the Somaskanda at the Vishvanatha Temple in Alathur village, Mannarkudi Taluk (1959); and the Shiva Nataraja at the Sri Bhava Aushadesvara Temple in Tirutturaippundi Taluk, Thanjavur District (1957).
The NMAA acquired the Shiva Nataraja from the Doris Wiener Gallery in New York in 2002. After the provenance research established that the pieces had been removed illegally, the museum and Indian officials agreed on their return to India.
