Stolen 3rd century sculpture to be repatriated to India from Belgium

Brussels [Belgium], March 22 : A third-century sculpture, part of ruined stupas of Andhra's historical Nagarjunakonda town, which had gone missing from a museum in India about 30 years ago has now been handed over to India's Ambassador to Belgium.
The United Kingdom-based Art Recovery International (ARI) and The India Pride Project (IPP)have collaborated to successfully recover the rare and important part of India's Cultural Heritage dating from the second half of the 3rd Century.
This is the third such repatriation of stolen and looted Indian art in the last three months for ARI working in partnership with IPP, the ARI said in a statement.
Earlier this year, IPP Co-founder, S Vijay Kumar informed ARI Founder and lawyer, Christopher A Marinello that the stolen limestone relief had been offered for sale in 2018 by the Belgian Asian Art Trade.
The purchaser had relied on a certificate of clearance from a UK-based organisation that regularly mints such "documentation" for the art trade as a substitute for proper due diligence without conducting provenance research on well documented and published antiquities.
Within a few weeks, Marinello tracked down the possessor of the sculpture and negotiated an unconditional release of the artwork to the Government of India.
The piece was formally handed over to Ambassador Santosh Jha at the Embassy of India in Brussels on March 11.

Taking to Twitter, India Embassy in Belgium said: "At a handover ceremony in Brussels on 11 March Amb.@santjha received on behalf of GOI, a 3rd century sculpture, a part of ruined stupas at Nagarjunakonda, that had been gone missing from a museum in India."
"The recovery of the sculpture was a result of efforts by Art Recovery International @artrecovery & the India Pride Project @IndiaPrideProj. We are grateful for their efforts & working with @ASIGoI to arrange its return to India," the embassy added in another Tweet.
According to the ARI statement, the limestone upper panel of a Pilaster bas-relief was part of the ruined Stupas at Nagarjunakonda, Andhra Pradesh and housed in a major Indian Museum until it was stolen on or about 1995 when it was last photographed in situ by an art historian.
This same scholar reached out to one of IPP 's volunteers after he discovered the piece being offered for sale at a Belgian art fair.
The Stupa Pilasters illustrate incidents in the life of Buddha. The recovered sculpture shows a court scene, from the Stupa 3 in Nagarjunakonda, second half of the third century AD. A royal couple sits at ease on a throne, attended by servants who stand behind the throne back while a female servant and a child play with a ram in the foreground.
"The problem of stolen and looted art is not exclusive to the theft victim. Possessors of illicit objects are increasingly cognizant that they cannot easily sell, exhibit, or transport stolen artworks without facing possible seizure, legal proceedings, and reputational damage. Good faith acquisition is not always a saving grace. We can offer a confidential and discreet way to resolve these title issues," Marinello said crediting those responsible and cooperative members of the art trade who are beginning to get the message about the vast number of illicit objects that have been openly sold for decades.
While S Vijay Kumar said: "This is our third successful recovery in as many months with ARI and we are pleased at their ability to encourage good faith purchasers to do the right thing when faced with compelling evidence of theft and illicit removal."
"We are extremely grateful to the scholars and citizens who engage with us on a confidential basis to flag potentially problematic acquisitions or auction sales. We hope law enforcement in India and the museum custodians follow up with thorough investigations and museum audits," he said.
He also said that it is important to note that this is only one fragment that has been recovered leaving lingering questions about what else has gone missing.
"We thank Chris for his pro bono work in restoring such valuable stolen artefacts and hopefully we can solve many more such difficult cases in the future," IPP Co-founder said.