“It is significant”: MET museum curator on artefacts being repatriated to India

New York [US]: The curator for South Asian Work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) John Guy on Tuesday (local time) called the repatriation of artefacts to India by the museum “significant” and added that in present times, the understanding of the cultural properties is more nuanced.

He said that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is actively involved in returning the objects to India and to other countries, despite them being not requested in many cases. Speaking to media on news of artefacts being repatriated to India by MET, Curator John Guy said, “It is significant.

Many museums around the world collected with care over the past. An understanding and engagement with the cultural properties is now more nuanced and refined than it used to be. And, we are the leading example of repatriation…”

“We are actively involved in returning the objects to India and to other countries and in many cases, the objects were not requested. We discovered in our own research that there were issues and we initiate the return,” he added.

In another statement, the MET Curator said that the MET museum exhibit on Buddha in New York today celebrates Buddhist art.

He said, “It’s an exhibition which really celebrates the birth of Buddhist art, and when we speak of Buddhist art, we are really talking about the birth of Indian art…… Indian art was stimulated by Buddhism.”

“The first great monumental structures that were built on the Indian landscape…apart from cities were the Stupas and monasteries…monumental structures…two or three storeys high, by modern building standards, cased in beautifully carved panels which told the stories of the life of Buddha,” the curator added.

Regarding the exhibition held in New York, the curator thanked the national museums of India, the Ministry of Culture, the Government of India and the state governments who contributed to it.

“…national museums of India, Ministry of Culture, Government of India and six state governments have contributed to this– Certainly I would like to thank the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, of Maharashtra, of West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh… all of them. And so we are indebted that they shared with us the trust and the goodwill that underlies there,” he said.

The exhibition was attended by India’s Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Consul General of India in New York, Randheer Jaiswal, and Nita Ambani, Founder and Chairperson of Reliance Foundation in New York.

The event took place at the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which is considered the largest art museum in America.

US ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti also attended the launch of the Buddhist stone sculpture exhibition, which will be from July 21 to November 13. Titled ‘Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India 200 BCE-400 CE,’ focuses on the Deccan’s pivotal role in shaping the Buddhist landscape of early India and beyond.

This exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York tells this tale through over 140 objects loaned from collections worldwide (21 July–13 November). Together these trace the transformation of pre-Buddhist figurative sculpture into the art of a new religion.

Highlights include stone sculptures created for stupa – monuments housing religious relics – and new discoveries from a monastic site in the Deccan, south India.

The US envoy further said that people forget that Buddhism took birth in India and it is a ‘gift’ that has been given by India to the world.

“It is spread throughout Asia, South Asia, and even this exhibition shows the Buddhist Indian art that was found in Rome. So, the people don’t know about the history of the contributions of India. We have shared this wisdom for millennia and we all should be grateful for India’s contributions to the world,” the US Ambassador added.

Meanwhile, the Indian consulate in New York on Monday held a repatriation ceremony for 105 trafficked antiquities handed over by the US. The antiquities will soon be transported to India, according to a release issued by the Consulate General of India in New York.

During PM Modi’s state visit, India, and the US agreed to work on a Cultural Property Agreement that would help prevent the illegal trafficking of cultural artefacts.

Such an understanding will add further value to the dynamic bilateral collaboration between Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies of the two countries.

The Indian government has been making serious efforts to bring back stolen Indian antiquities, the living symbols of rich Indian heritage and culture, from abroad.