The Great Loot Of Chandraketugarh Artefacts

Part one: How an American foundation distributes stolen Indian art to the likes of Yale University

‘Gifts’ and acquisitions from the now-jailed and infamous smuggler Subash Kapoor inhabit not just the galleries and museums of Yale and Harvard but also the likes of the Toledo Museum of Art, the Honolulu Academy, the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, and even the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET).

These three artefacts — all sold by Subash Kapoor’s Arts of the Past dealership to the Yale University Art Gallery — have one important identifier tag left out.

While the art market knows and markets them as Chandraketugarh artefacts, the mention of the same is missing as well as a mention of the state of origin i.e. West Bengal.

Now the question arises as to why such an important aspect was left out from a museum's direct acquisition.

As per filings in the NYC District Attorney’s office, artefacts worth over 2.5 million dollars were illicitly exported from India and smuggled into the US, on or after 1995.

Apart from the above, another 42 fragments and objects, though not specifically mentioned as of Chandraketugarh, are also part of the seizure — the combined valuation with the above exceeding 2.5 million USD.

As per the Toledo Museum of Art's 2007 annual report alone, Subash Kapoor gifted hundreds of Chandraketugarh artefacts to the museum.

The museum has also recognised and thanked Kapoor for gifting art worth more than $100,000 and saluted him for his donations amounting to $499,999.

It is important to view the above gifts and donations in the light of the sale price of a Ganesha — an invoice shows the Toledo Museum purchased the Ganesha from Kapoor 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 $245,000, would give it donations and gifts valued at three times that price!

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 terracottas being shipped in courier envelopes. Ninety-five per cent of them arrived in the US.

It has been conveniently left to the dark side of the antiquities trade and has instead become a site of rampant pillage for brilliant stone and terracotta works from where they become prized possessions of many western museums and collectors.

Honolulu Museum

In 2015, the Honolulu Museum of Art handed over seven rare artefacts to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after their dubious provenance association with Subash Kapoor was revealed.

This was the consequence of a visitor contacting the authorities after recognising Kapoor’s name in the New York gallery as the source of a 2,000-year-old terracotta rattle.

Presently, these artefacts await restitution to India. The museum was one of the first to publicly and easily cooperate with the earlier mentioned Operation Hidden Idol investigation.

The Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore

Currently, the provenance of these artefacts has not been revealed and India is yet to take action.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET)

It is time museums and collectors realise that their “innocent” purchases are driving an illicit market.

We at the India Art Foundation will to continue to work towards the restitution of our invaluable heritage and work to expose museums that house artefacts smuggled out of India.