All posts tagged: pillaged

Ethiopian Shield Pillaged by British to Be Repatriated

Ethiopian Shield Pillaged by British to Be Repatriated

To receive Morning Links in your inbox every weekday, sign up for our Breakfast with ARTnews newsletter. The Headlines MAQDALA SHIELD REPATRIATION. A 19th-century Maqdala shield pillaged in Ethiopia during the 1868 Battle of Maqdala will be repatriated in November, and displayed at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, reports The Art Newspaper. The Ethiopian government identified the shield as a British army-looted treasure after seeing it come up in an auction, and requested it be restituted from the UK. After a short loan for an exhibit at Ohio’s Toledo Museum of Art ending this month, that is precisely what will happen. The shield “is a symbol of Ethiopia’s history and resilience,” said Ermias Sahle Selassi, grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie and founder of the Royal Ethiopian Trust that negotiated the restitution. During the same 1868 battle, the British army helped themselves to other Ethiopian treasures which remain in UK museums, including ceremonial objects considered holy and weapons, though some have been returned in recent years. Related Articles LEBANON HERITAGE SITES AT RISK. Lebanon’s culture minister has warned that …

New York returns 30 pillaged relics to Cambodia, Indonesia

New York returns 30 pillaged relics to Cambodia, Indonesia

NEW YORK: New York prosecutors said on Friday (Apr 26) they had returned to Cambodia and Indonesia 30 antiquities that were looted, sold or illegally transferred by networks of American dealers and traffickers. The antiquities were valued at a total of US$3 million, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. Bragg said in a statement that he had returned 27 pieces to Phnom Penh and three to Jakarta in two recent repatriation ceremonies, including a bronze of the Hindu deity Shiva (“Shiva Triad”) looted from Cambodia and a stone bas-relief of two royal figures from the Majapahit empire (13th-16th century) stolen from Indonesia. Bragg accused art dealers Subhash Kapoor, an Indian-American, and American Nancy Wiener in the illegal trafficking of the antiquities. Kapoor, accused of running a network trafficking in items stolen in Southeast Asia for sale in his Manhattan gallery, has been the target of a US justice investigation dubbed “Hidden Idol” for more than a decade. Arrested in 2011 in Germany, Kapoor was sent back to India where he was tried and sentenced in …