via various sources, 26 April 2024: Two significant Thai artifacts, the ‘Golden Boy’ statue of Shiva and a bronze of a seated woman, are slated for repatriation from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to Thailand next month. These 11th-century statues, linked to the indicted trafficker Douglas Latchford, will be returned with costs covered by The Met. The return is part of a broader initiative that includes a memorandum of understanding for academic cooperation between Thailand’s Fine Arts Department and The Met.
A senior official from the Fine Arts Department has left for the United States to examine two artefacts, including the “Golden Boy”, which are to be returned to Thailand by the Metropolitan Museum of Arts (The MET) in New York City.
Culture Minister Sermsak Pongpanich said that he has assigned Nittaya Kanokmongkol, director of the Office of the National Museum, to go to the US to examine the two artefacts and to discuss the exact timing for their delivery back to Thailand.
He said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on technical cooperation, between Thailand’s Fine Arts Department and The MET, will be signed by the director-general of the department, Phanombut Chantarachot, and Max Hollein, the director and chairman of The MET.
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