Two 11th century Khmer lintels to return to Thailand from the US in March

 

 

Two ancient Khmer ornate stone lintels, on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, which were smuggled out of Thailand about five decades ago, are expected to be returned to Thailand in March.

 

A statement from the North California attorney’s office, issued yesterday (local time), quoted David L. Anderson, a special investigator for the US Department of Homeland Security (USDHS), acting as an attorney in a lawsuit against the Asian Art Museum, as saying that it had been resolved that the lintels will be returned to Thailand after it was proven that they were stolen from the country.

 

According to the statement, the two lintels were in the possession of the former chairman of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, who eventually donated them to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/two-11th-century-khmer-lintels-to-return-to-thailand-from-the-us-in-march/

 

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1 hour ago, webfact said:

he two lintels were in the possession of the former chairman of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, who eventually donated them to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco

 

And how do people like this get nominated to such prestigious positions?

33 minutes ago, LazySlipper said:

 

And how do people like this get nominated to such prestigious positions?

 

When he filled out his application he checked the box that said chairman. 

Just spent a couple hours reading up on Brundage. Nasty piece of work.

They say he was a Nazi Sympathizer but it seems he was more an "appeaser" but did share the Nazi's dislike of Blacks and Jews. Many in the US wanted to boycott the 1936 Olympics due to how Germany was (already) oppressing it's Jewish citizens. Brundage led the "anti-boycott" faction that won.
Mixed bag on that one.
On one hand, a boycott would have sent a strong political signal (but wouldn't have changed anything). On the other hand, having Owens (and other black athletes) winning all those medals was a slap in Hitler's face (which it would seem was not what Brundage was expecting). (Although it would seem that the US attending those games had about as much effect on events afterwards as it would have if they had of boycotted the games.)

We all know about Jesse Owens winning 4 Gold Medals. The 4 x 100 team also won gold, after Brundage kicked 2 Jewish runners off the squad and replaced them with black runners. Supposedly he did that so Hitler wouldn't be even further embarrassed (had a track team that was "half Jewish" won on top of the victories by Owens).

Brundage also despised the idea of women in the Olympics.
He kicked one woman off the 1936 US Olympic team for supposedly "partying all night". She says he made advances towards her that she rejected and that's why she was kicked off the team. (That was back in the days when the entire delegation would spend days on a ship sailing to Europe.)

He once stated "You know, the ancient Greeks kept women out of their athletic games. They wouldn't even let them on the sidelines. I'm not so sure but they were right."
(He was basically saying that he thought the ancient Greeks had the right idea. Keep in mind that the in the original Olympics, the athletes all competed in the nude. Brundage was supposedly also skeptical of women athletes as he thought many of them were men in disguise.)

He was part of a movement to try and keep America out of WW 2 in the beginning (when it was just against Germany and Italy). He resigned from those groups after Pearl Harbour though.

Some say his legacy was more as an art collector than an athlete or IOC member/chairman. He had a very extensive collection, most of which went to a museum he helped create (which now of course wants to distance itself from any association with his name). 
It seems though that more than a few pieces in his collection came from dubious sources.

Reading an article from 1989, it seems that he had another lintel which originally came from another temple in Buriram, where it had been stolen in 1968. Apparently he returned that one to Thailand in 1970 for some reason.
Can't find anything about how he acquired the other 2 lintels (as well as some of the other pieces in his collection, including works stolen from the Forbidden City). It seems that whenever he travelled anywhere he made sure to visit art dealers while there. Supposedly he was good at spotting fakes but noted that "many Asian fakes were still thousands of years old".

Reading his history from back in the 30s and the quotes/letters from others, it was apparently that the anti-Jew sentiment was quite strong at the time and not just in Germany. His racism, misogyny and anti-Semitism apparently was well known and he seemingly never made any attempt to hide it or apologize for it. 

By today's standard, he'd make Epstein and Weinstein seem like angels. (Just a coincidence that those 2 names both end in "stein".)

Good chance Thailand stole them from Cambodia in the first place

12 minutes ago, natway09 said:

Good chance Thailand stole them from Cambodia in the first place

Possibly, but in the 9th century (AD), this was the vast extent of the Khmer Empire (red), with its capital city Angkor (in present day Cambodia). Hence many Khmer style temples that can be seen in Thailand:-

 

On 2/11/2021 at 3:24 PM, webfact said:

Two ancient Khmer ornate stone lintels, on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, which were smuggled out of Thailand about five decades ago, are expected to be returned to Thailand in March.

If they are Khmer, then when were they smuggled out of Cambodia and into Thailand?

Why would anyone purloin ancient stone carvings what weren't erotic in subject matter such as from those notoriously suggestive (euphemism) Indian temples?

22 hours ago, natway09 said:

Good chance Thailand stole them from Cambodia in the first place

Maybe removed from what is now Thailand but certainly build by the Khmer, not Thai.