The Metropolitan Museum has decided to investigate objects allegedly acquired from or through the merchant Subhash Kapoor, arrested in 2011 for having been the head of antiques trafficking worldwide.
At that time, the museum had indicated that it would keep these items claiming that they had not been looted. But since then New York court has brought 86 indictments against Kapoor, which has led the institution to work closely with the Indian authorities after his extradition to India to identify the provenance of some fifteen objects in its possession.
For now, the museum has not clarified whether or not Kapoor provided export documents or Import licenses for these objects while the latter has been charged with selling pieces with an aggregate value of $ 145 million over 40 years, including Los Angeles County Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, Toledo Museum, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Samuel P Harn Museum at the University of Florida or the Birmingham Museum.
© Adrian Darmon
