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28-05-2014, 12:00 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
ACM bought over US$1M of art from disgraced dealer (http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/05/27/acm-bought-over-us1m-of-art-from-disgraced-dealer/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/simages/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png May 27th, 2014 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Editorial (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/editorial/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/uma_acm.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/uma_acm.jpg)Boy standing next to a cut-out of the Uma Parameshvari idol
In the latest post on Chasing Aphrodite (http://chasingaphrodite.com/) – a famous blog dedicated to the hunt for looted antiquities in the world’s museums – Singapore’s Asian Civilizations Museum (ACM) is said to have bought more than US$1 million of art from disgraced Manhattan dealer Subhash Chandra Kapoor, according to business records from Kapoor’s Art of the Past gallery.Kapoor currently stands trial in India for trafficking 18 idols stolen at his request from temples in Tamil Nadu, India. He is accused of having enlisted people in India to steal the artifacts. After being stolen, they were shipped to Hong Kong, and then to him in New York. He would then create false paperwork to hide the origins of the ill-gotten artifacts.
Kapoor was arrested on an Interpol warrant while travelling through Germany and extradited to India last year. According to the New York Post [Link (http://nypost.com/2012/07/27/ny-art-dealer-stashed-millions-in-stolen-india-treasure/)], he was given up by his ex-lover, a Singapore art dealer named Paramaspry Punusamy, after the two split up over a dispute involving the artifacts.
In a series of raids on Kapoor’s Manhattan gallery and storage facilities, US authorities have seized an estimated US$100 million worth of stolen artifacts. Authorities said the evidence could unravel the biggest antiquities smuggling network identified since the 1990′s.
Last Decemeber, TRE broke the news that ACM possessed a a stolen idol from Tamil Nadu (‘1,000-year idol stolen from India now in SG museum (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/12/06/1000-year-idol-stolen-from-india-now-in-sg-museum/)‘).
The idol was a 1,000-year bronze statue of the Hindu goddess Uma Parameshvari. It was stolen from a temple in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu in 2005 or 2006 after which it was transported to the US. Kapoor then sold it to ACM for US$650,000 in February 2007.
Indian newspaper The Hindu tried numerous times to contact ACM over the Uma Parameshvari idol since July last year but the museum authorities in Singapore rebuffed each attempt at extracting information. The Hindu complained:
The Hindu, which has been following this case, wrote to the museum authorities in Singapore in July, enquiring about the provenance of the Uma Parameshvari sculpture. However, they did not reply. The Hindu contacted the museum again to get its response to the recent developments. Until this story went to print (6 Dec 2013), the museum did not reply to the email that followed a telephone conversation.
It was only after TRE publicised this story (6 Dec) and a subsequent story (25 Dec) about another stolen Indian artifact (‘ACM has another artifact with fake letter of origin (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/12/25/acm-has-another-artifact-with-fake-letter-of-origin/)‘) that ACM decided to come clean.
On 8 January 2014, ACM issued a statement saying that it would take “all necessary steps according to international laws and practice to return any stolen or looted objects purchased from New York gallery Art of The Past”.
In fact, ACM revealed that it had bought 30 artifacts from Art of The Past over 14 years from 1997 to 2010. It said it was alerted to the possibility of 2 of the artifacts being illicit purchases, without naming TRE as the source of the news.
Although ACM revealed that it had bought altogether 30 artifacts from Art of The Past in its statement, the museum did not name the objects, detail their provenance or disclose the price it had paid for them.
The latest post (25 May) on Chasing Aphrodite [Link (http://chasingaphrodite.com/2014/05/25/singapore-sling-the-asian-civilizations-museum-paid-kapoor-more-than-1-million/)] now reveals that ACM paid more than US$1 million for the 30 artifacts and details each of the 30 items.
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/amaravathi_stupa.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/amaravathi_stupa.jpg)For example, in October 1997, Kapoor billed ACM US$22,500 for a 3rd century limestone fragment from Amaravati, South India. “Examples from the Amaravait stuppa are extremely rare to find,” Kapoor wrote in text accompanying the sale. “This particular piece does not come from the stuppa proper, but from the outer rail copings that surrounded the stuppa. It is an exceptional example in both its size and in its illustrative qualities…The iconography of this fragment makes this a most interesting piece from the Amaravati area.”
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lion_kanuj1.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lion_kanuj1.jpg)Then in February 1998, Kapoor sold ACM an 11th century sandstone crouching lion (pictured right) from Kanoj, Uttar Padesh for US$35,000 and an 11th century stone goddess Camunda from Rajshahi, Bangladesh priced at US$25,000. After a US$5,000 discount, the total invoice was for US$55,000.
An Art of the Past invoice dated April 2002 shows that ACM bought 3 ancient rattles from Kapoor for US$10,000. The rattles (pictured below) depict a boy seated with ball, a seated man, and a seated man with bare belly.
In any case, the total value of ACM’s 30 acquisitions from Kapoor is a cool US$1,192,881, according to Chasing Aphrodite, which says there may be additional Kapoor objects at ACM not detailed in its blog post.
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle2.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle2.jpg)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle3.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle3.jpg)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle1.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle1.jpg)
Chasing Aphrodite gives the following advice:
Given the ACM’s extensive dealings with Kapoor, the Singapore museum should immediately release the provenance documents for all the antiquities it acquired from the dealer and proactively reach out to Indian and American investigators.
Do you agree that ACM should “immediately release the provenance documents for all the antiquities it acquired from the (disgraced) dealer and proactively reach out to Indian and American investigators”?
Editor’s note: Chasing Aphrodite (http://chasingaphrodite.com/) is written and maintained by Jason Felch, an award-winning investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Felch has written on a wide range of topics, such as arms trafficking, forensic DNA, disaster fraud, money laundering, public education and corruption in the art world.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?182579-ACM-bought-over-US-1M-of-art-from-disgraced-dealer&goto=newpost).
ACM bought over US$1M of art from disgraced dealer (http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/05/27/acm-bought-over-us1m-of-art-from-disgraced-dealer/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/simages/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png May 27th, 2014 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Editorial (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/editorial/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/uma_acm.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/uma_acm.jpg)Boy standing next to a cut-out of the Uma Parameshvari idol
In the latest post on Chasing Aphrodite (http://chasingaphrodite.com/) – a famous blog dedicated to the hunt for looted antiquities in the world’s museums – Singapore’s Asian Civilizations Museum (ACM) is said to have bought more than US$1 million of art from disgraced Manhattan dealer Subhash Chandra Kapoor, according to business records from Kapoor’s Art of the Past gallery.Kapoor currently stands trial in India for trafficking 18 idols stolen at his request from temples in Tamil Nadu, India. He is accused of having enlisted people in India to steal the artifacts. After being stolen, they were shipped to Hong Kong, and then to him in New York. He would then create false paperwork to hide the origins of the ill-gotten artifacts.
Kapoor was arrested on an Interpol warrant while travelling through Germany and extradited to India last year. According to the New York Post [Link (http://nypost.com/2012/07/27/ny-art-dealer-stashed-millions-in-stolen-india-treasure/)], he was given up by his ex-lover, a Singapore art dealer named Paramaspry Punusamy, after the two split up over a dispute involving the artifacts.
In a series of raids on Kapoor’s Manhattan gallery and storage facilities, US authorities have seized an estimated US$100 million worth of stolen artifacts. Authorities said the evidence could unravel the biggest antiquities smuggling network identified since the 1990′s.
Last Decemeber, TRE broke the news that ACM possessed a a stolen idol from Tamil Nadu (‘1,000-year idol stolen from India now in SG museum (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/12/06/1000-year-idol-stolen-from-india-now-in-sg-museum/)‘).
The idol was a 1,000-year bronze statue of the Hindu goddess Uma Parameshvari. It was stolen from a temple in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu in 2005 or 2006 after which it was transported to the US. Kapoor then sold it to ACM for US$650,000 in February 2007.
Indian newspaper The Hindu tried numerous times to contact ACM over the Uma Parameshvari idol since July last year but the museum authorities in Singapore rebuffed each attempt at extracting information. The Hindu complained:
The Hindu, which has been following this case, wrote to the museum authorities in Singapore in July, enquiring about the provenance of the Uma Parameshvari sculpture. However, they did not reply. The Hindu contacted the museum again to get its response to the recent developments. Until this story went to print (6 Dec 2013), the museum did not reply to the email that followed a telephone conversation.
It was only after TRE publicised this story (6 Dec) and a subsequent story (25 Dec) about another stolen Indian artifact (‘ACM has another artifact with fake letter of origin (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/12/25/acm-has-another-artifact-with-fake-letter-of-origin/)‘) that ACM decided to come clean.
On 8 January 2014, ACM issued a statement saying that it would take “all necessary steps according to international laws and practice to return any stolen or looted objects purchased from New York gallery Art of The Past”.
In fact, ACM revealed that it had bought 30 artifacts from Art of The Past over 14 years from 1997 to 2010. It said it was alerted to the possibility of 2 of the artifacts being illicit purchases, without naming TRE as the source of the news.
Although ACM revealed that it had bought altogether 30 artifacts from Art of The Past in its statement, the museum did not name the objects, detail their provenance or disclose the price it had paid for them.
The latest post (25 May) on Chasing Aphrodite [Link (http://chasingaphrodite.com/2014/05/25/singapore-sling-the-asian-civilizations-museum-paid-kapoor-more-than-1-million/)] now reveals that ACM paid more than US$1 million for the 30 artifacts and details each of the 30 items.
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/amaravathi_stupa.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/amaravathi_stupa.jpg)For example, in October 1997, Kapoor billed ACM US$22,500 for a 3rd century limestone fragment from Amaravati, South India. “Examples from the Amaravait stuppa are extremely rare to find,” Kapoor wrote in text accompanying the sale. “This particular piece does not come from the stuppa proper, but from the outer rail copings that surrounded the stuppa. It is an exceptional example in both its size and in its illustrative qualities…The iconography of this fragment makes this a most interesting piece from the Amaravati area.”
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lion_kanuj1.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/lion_kanuj1.jpg)Then in February 1998, Kapoor sold ACM an 11th century sandstone crouching lion (pictured right) from Kanoj, Uttar Padesh for US$35,000 and an 11th century stone goddess Camunda from Rajshahi, Bangladesh priced at US$25,000. After a US$5,000 discount, the total invoice was for US$55,000.
An Art of the Past invoice dated April 2002 shows that ACM bought 3 ancient rattles from Kapoor for US$10,000. The rattles (pictured below) depict a boy seated with ball, a seated man, and a seated man with bare belly.
In any case, the total value of ACM’s 30 acquisitions from Kapoor is a cool US$1,192,881, according to Chasing Aphrodite, which says there may be additional Kapoor objects at ACM not detailed in its blog post.
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle2.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle2.jpg)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle3.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle3.jpg)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle1.jpg (http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/rattle1.jpg)
Chasing Aphrodite gives the following advice:
Given the ACM’s extensive dealings with Kapoor, the Singapore museum should immediately release the provenance documents for all the antiquities it acquired from the dealer and proactively reach out to Indian and American investigators.
Do you agree that ACM should “immediately release the provenance documents for all the antiquities it acquired from the (disgraced) dealer and proactively reach out to Indian and American investigators”?
Editor’s note: Chasing Aphrodite (http://chasingaphrodite.com/) is written and maintained by Jason Felch, an award-winning investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Felch has written on a wide range of topics, such as arms trafficking, forensic DNA, disaster fraud, money laundering, public education and corruption in the art world.
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?182579-ACM-bought-over-US-1M-of-art-from-disgraced-dealer&goto=newpost).