The Plunder of Chandraketugarh
- In History & Culture
- 09:57 AM, Jun 11, 2016
- Vijay Kumar
Terracotta Yakshi from Chandraketugarh
India, Bengal, Chandraketugarh
circa 2nd century BC, Sunga period
terracotta
35.5cm high
“This terracotta plaque from Chandraketugarh shows a beautiful Yakshi figure. The Yakshi figures are divinities in relation with nature and fertility and their chief is Kubera, the king and guardian of nature wealth. This Yakshi figure has all the attributes of Indian beauty: generous breasts, slim waist, broad hips and deep navel. It is interesting to note the lively treatment and expression of this figure. The height of Chandrakegurarh terracotta was under the Shunga period.” – so goes on the online dealer write up of this artefact offered for sale in a prestigious art fair in Brussels in 2009 !
. This despite such a startling headline way back in 2004 !!
Indian artefacts a smuggler's delight
So despite such a shocking headline – a decade has passed on and while India turned a blind eye to Chandraketugarh – the art market lapped up its treasures in the thousands!!
Today, we reveal how we as India Pride Project continue to fight to stop this plunder – we reveal our hand. Read on ….
Normally a headline such as this must have created ripples in any country…
Not in India! Chandraketugarh - I am sure 99.9 % of Indians, even all Bengalis would not have heard of this name. A site that should have been celebrated as the very pinnacle of early Indian Art does not even have a decent excavation report or proper study published by the ASI. It has been conveniently left to the dark side of the antiquities trade to realise its true greatness and VALUE – a site of rampant pillage for their brilliant stone and terracotta works - the prized possessions of many western museums and collectors including hundreds by Subhash Kapoor / Art of Past – every single one of them being ILLICIT.
The circumstances that lead to this sensational headline was not even sought by Indian Media
Our focus on the Toledo Museum commenced with the Chola Ganesha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lahnMBXKa4Y – the lack of support we received from the Indian authorities is a sadder story but that for some other time. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Indian-officials-in-US-ignore-museums-request-to-ID-idol/articleshow/32178998.cms
Our role in exposing this grand theft has resulted in the Ganesha being taken off display and handed over to US law enforcement and await restitution to India - https://chasingaphrodite.com/2014/02/24/trouble-in-toledo-documents-show-museum-bought-stolen-ganesh-from-kapoor/
But deeper research revealed startling facts. The museum’s Annual report listed the 100’s of Indian artefacts as gifts in the year 2007 (alone) from Art of Past ( Subhash Kapoor).
Source: Annual report 2007 of the Toledo Museum (extract)
The Museum recognizes and thanks the following organizations, businesses, and individuals who made gifts during 2008 in support of art acquisitions, capital projects, and special programs.
$100,000+ - Subhash Kapoor: gift of art
CUMULATIVE GIVING
The Toledo Museum of Art salutes the following donors for their generosity and
continuing support during its second century:
VI. $250,000 to $499,999 - Mr. Subhash Kapoor
It is important to view the above Gifts and donations in light of the sale price of the Ganesha - An invoice shows the Toledo Museum purchased the Ganesh in May, 2006 for only $245,000.
It defies logic as to why a dealer who had just sold an artefact to the museum for 245000 would give it donations and gifts valued at 3 times over that price !
But to nail the Museum and force its return we needed more evidence! A painstaking data mining effort by us in conjunction with US law enforcement revealed the modus operandi of the smugglers. The precious artefacts were smuggled out of India via POST!! Imagine the delicate terracotas being shipped in courier envelopes! 95% of them arrived broken in the US!
But our zillion hours of labour did yield results – we found the matches.
Matched them to the Museum’s collections http://www.toledomuseum.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007_117.jpg
http://www.toledomuseum.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007_110.jpg
PRESENT STATUS: AWAIT CLAIM FROM INDIA FOR RESTITUTION!!
The Toledo Museum was not alone – Our work helped another seizure at Honolulu !
HONALULU ACADEMY
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/02/antiquities-looted-honolulu-museum/70816386/
Someone on vacation visiting the museum last year recognized the name of Kapoor's New York gallery as the source of a 2,000-year-old terra cotta rattle and contacted authorities, said Stephan Jost, the museum's director. Museum officials then pored over their records and determined six other Indian items had ties to Kapoor.
Now we can reveal who that someone is !!
PRESENT STATUS: AWAIT CLAIM FROM INDIA FOR RESTITUTION !!
Art Gallery of New South Wales
After our first success with the AGNSW Ardhanrishwara, https://chasingaphrodite.com/tag/vriddhachalam/ The gallery was quick to pull all of its purchases from Art of Past off display.
PRESENT STATUS: AWAIT CLAIM FROM INDIA FOR RESTITUTION!!
ACM Singapore
An Art of the Past invoice dated April 2002 shows the ACM bought three ancient rattles from Kapoor for $10,000. https://chasingaphrodite.com/2014/05/25/singapore-sling-the-asian-civilizations-museum-paid-kapoor-more-than-1-million/
PRESENT STATUS: PROVENANCE INFORMATION NOT REVEALED AND NO ACTION TAKEN BY INDIA
The MET !
What is interesting is the fact that the other 2 rattles acquisition dates are in the 1990’s – well after the 1970 UN Statue !!
PRESENT STATUS: PROVENANCE INFORMATION NOT REVEALED AND NO ACTION TAKEN BY INDIA
So far the provenance information about these objects have not been revealed by any of the above museums.
Its time Museums and collectors realise that their “innocent” purchases is driving this illicit market. So rampant is the lure of this dollar driven greed that it has taken its price in lives as well
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1061009/asp/bengal/story_6846471.asp
A woman who had campaigned against the pilfering of priceless finds from the 2,500-year-old excavation site at Chandraketugarh has apparently been driven to suicide in the face of pressure to pull out of the movement.
The true extent of the rape of Chandraketugarh can now be revealed to all!!
Photos of seized objects from Art of Past warehouses in NYC from Chandrekugarh
Above is part of the infamous Kapoor Art of Past seizure in storage facilities in New York. There is no greater example of how human greed and unrestrained illicit excavations have destroyed context – we have hundreds of priceless 2nd CBCE artefacts illicitly excavated and sold to the West – shipped improperly with 99% arriving damaged – permanently destroyed – that Kapoor gifted 100s of them in 2006 to the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio. If only the dollar driven greed had not aided the wanton pillage, they would have stayed in situ – waiting for the time for academics and archaeologists to study them properly and bring to light the brilliant civilisations and artists who created them. Now sadly they are lost for every – under a small museum plate – terracotta plaque from Chandraketugarh !! is all we have to show. What secrets they held within them for two millennia – which great kings’ names could have added to the “embarrassing” gaps in our history.
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