Duryodhana

Duryodhana

In April 2012, the U.S. government filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit against Sotheby's seeking to return this c. 10th century C.E. stone statue of Duryodhana to the people of Cambodia.

Duryodhana is the mythological 'twin' of Bhima, a statue once held by the Norton Simon Museum. Both statues were removed by the same organized looting network under cover of Khmer Rouge conflict from the Prasat Chen temple at the ancient site of Koh Ker. The Duryodhana head was removed and smuggled separately, likely in 1972.

The statue was consigned to Sotheby's in September, 2010, to be offered for sale in New York on behalf of a private collector in March 2011. Decia Ruspoli di Poggio Suasa said she first came to possess the statue after her late husband acquired it at a Spink & Son auction in 1975.

On the day of intended sale, Sotheby’s was notified by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An (with assistance from UNESCO and independent scholars) that the object had been looted from the Koh Ker temple complex, 80 miles east of Angkor Wat.

The parties attempted to negotiate a settlement to the dispute over the subsequent two years, but those negotiations ended abruptly when the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a civil forfeiture suit and seized the statue. In making their case for the statue’s forfeiture, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York cited revealing emails from Emma C. Bunker, an authority on Khmer art, who initially warned the auction house that the statue should not be sold at public auction:

“The Cambodians in Phnom Penh now have clear evidence that it was definitely stolen from Prasat Chen at Koh Ker, as the feet are still in situ…Please do not give this report to anyone outside of Sotheby, as I often have access to such material, and don’t want to anger my sources. The two Dvarapalas must have stood close together and their feet remain, so it’s pretty clear where they came from.

I think it would be hugely unwise to offer the Duryodhana (together with the Norton Simon Bhima, referred to as the Dvarapalas) publicly, and I would not really feel comfortable writing it up under the circumstances. It is also possible that the Cambodians might block the sale and ask for the piece back….I’m sorry as I had some exciting things to say about it, but I don’t think Sotheby's wants this kind of potential problem.”

Bunker later consulted with “culture spies and museum directors” in Cambodia and told Sotheby’s it was not likely that the government would pursue a claim.

Sotheby’s attempted to proceed with the sale, with officials saying in internal emails that while it might receive bad press from “academics and ‘temple huggers,'” the potential profits from the sale made it “worth the risk.”

In December 2012, Sotheby’s and the private collector agreed to forfeit the Duryodhana to Cambodia. It returned to Cambodia in June 2014.

1

Sculpture – statues, carvings, bronzes, reliefs, figurines

Khmer

Sotheby's

Decia Ruspoli di Poggio Suasa

Cambodia

Jason Felch

Damien Huffer