Ethical Question: Cambodian Antiquities

    The theft of Cambodian art has been a problem affecting the Khmer cultural center for hundreds of years. This problem has persisted into the 20th century; during the Cambodian civil war looting of major archeological sites was common, and provided a boost to the war chest of the Khmer Rouge. These funds prolonged the war, and eventually led to the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea, a singe partied dictatorship that had the support of the Viet Cong and China. The looting in Cambodia has caused the cultural antiquities of the Khmer to be dispersed throughout the world, diluting the cultural heritage of the region. 

    The argument behind artworks being sent back to their cultural homeland has been hashed out repeatedly in the modern era. During the looting of the Cambodian Civil War, the site of Koh Ker lost most of its relics. Many of these relics appeared on the national art market years later, and made their way into collections throughout the world. Recovery has been a goal of the modern Cambodian government, and after the true origins of some relics throughout the world were discovered a request was sent out for them to be returned to Cambodia. Since then, six of the nine identified statues have been returned (Koh Ker). The Metropolitan Museum of Art was one of the museums that agreed to send their piece back to Cambodia, which has resulted in friendly relationship between the Museum and Cambodian officials. Due to this, the Met has been able to negotiated a system of inter-museum loans to bolster their collection and display the cultural heritage of Cambodia in a moral fashion (Davis and Zucker). The Sotheby's Auction is an owner of one of the 3 unreturned statues, and remains engaged in a legal battle with the Cambodian government over ownership of the piece. The Statue was listed in the multimillion dollar range but was removed from the market after the Cambodian Governments objection to the sale. Negotiations between the two sides has yet to result in anything meaningful and Sotheby's seems determined to hold onto the sculpture. Sotheby's defense regards the evidence supporting the stance the statue was looted in the late 60's is circumstantial, as there is no way to determine if the statue was removed at the same time as others were suspected to have been (Kuhn). 


"Koh Ker: Archeological Site of Ancient Lingapura Or Chok Gargyar" United nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Orginization, Accessed, Oct 8 2020, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6458/ 

Kuhn, Anthony. "Cambodia Vs. Sotheby's in a Battle Over Antiquities." Npr, Oct 23, 2012,  Accessed Oct 8, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2012/10/23/163007250/cambodia-vs-sothebys-in-a-battle-over-antiquities

Tess Davis and Dr. Steven Zucker, "The Looting of Cambodian Antiquities," in Smarthistory, October 27, 2017, accessed October 8, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/looting-cambodia-2/.

Comments

  1. Ashley MOctober 10, 2020 at 10:31 AM

    We all lose when there is a lack of diplomacy in the world. I commend the Met for doing the right thing and returning the artifacts to their rightful place. It amazes me how stubborn people and organizations can be when the desired outcome would be something that is beneficial to all. The Met probably gained a lot of access that would have been harder to garner if not for the decision to return the piece. You're right, this is not a new problem for many cultures who have had their artifacts looted due to wars and civil unrest. Sotheby's is in a different situation because they are brokers rather than a museum, but I'm sure they could find a way to make it profitable if they really wanted to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 11, 2020 at 2:21 PM

    Hey Alex!
    Your ethical question on the looting and theft of Cambodian Art points out a similar question our class discussed earlier this semester about ‘who really owns it and ought to have rights to it.’ Our positions commonly conclude that the culture and people from which the art came from, is the true and proper owner. It is unfortunate that things like this do occur, however it was hopeful to read about how so groups did the right thing and gave the people back the artwork that was wrongfully taken. A couple things that I think worked well for your blog was you did well writing about the long-standing history that is behind Cambodian art being taken. You also provided a reference list with a direct link to the photograph you picked to talk about and gave the reader a date to refer by.
    Autumn Fink

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Archaeological Conservation

Image
    "What ethical questions need to be considered when conducting archeaological studies on ancient sites? How can sites be protected while also being studied? How can the biases and preconceptions of archeaologists and other scholars cause problems during excavation and reconstruction? What is the difference between conservation and reconstruction? Should sites be conserved or reconstructed?"        The ethical questions involved with archaeology often focus around conservation and respect for an archaeological site. According to Tim Williams at the Getty Conservation Institute, over the last two decades, scientific techniques have advanced, allowing for noninvasive scouting in discovered sites. With the help of satellite imaging, LiDAR, and unmanned aerial vehicles, a site can be inspected before it is disturbed. Archaeologists have shifted their focus to balancing interpretation of a site, how it is presented, and conservation in an ...
Read more

Comparison between the Nok and the Djenne Art Styles.

Image
      The Nok and Djenne people are both indigenous to what is now modern-day Nigeria. Despite their closeness, the two cultures developed distinct art styles. The Nok took a more realistic approach with their artwork, with most recovered sculptures being human heads in a similar size and shape to a real human head. The Djenne's artwork often takes a more abstract approach, with long tubular limbs on their sculptures.                                                             The Nok culture creates most of their sculptures out of terracotta, which is similar to many other African cultures, including the Djenne. Unlike Djenne sculptures, they use a style called coiling which left the interior of the head hollow. The Nok style can be identified by both the eyes and hair. In most Nok sculptures they use a triangular shap...
Read more

MST Intro Post

 Hello, My name is Alex. My relationship with museums is likely pretty normal. The first trip I can really remember was to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see the Body World exhibit. Considering how young I was it amazes me how much I remember from that trip. I think learning about how those traveling exhibits work and how curators set those up would be interesting from this class. My awareness regarding debates surrounding museums is cursory at best. I know of the debate regarding whether or not a dead person can consent to being studied and even displayed as examples of mummification as well as some issues regarding consent from descendant cultures to display artifacts of importance to them. I think that museums should be there to address the injustice that was done to all minority cultures in the US as well as the native populations. Museum's shouldn't be neutral (not that they really are as mentioned in the article). They have an opportunity to be bastions of cha...
Read more