US to return four Prakhon Chai artefacts to Thailand

Four ancient statues of the Lord Buddha and his incarnation, which were smuggled out of Thailand more than 60 years ago and exhibited at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, are to be returned.

Phanombut Chantarachot, director-general of the Fine Arts Department, said today that he had been informed by the US Department of Homeland Security that the committee of the museum agreed on April 22 to remove the four artefacts from the museum’s list of antiquities and to return them to their rightful owner.

The artefacts consist of three Bodhisattva statues and one Buddha statue and are part of the Prakhone Chai artefacts. They were looted from the Khao Plai Bud Prasat ruins, in Chalerm Phra Kiat district (formerly Prakhon Chai district) in Buri Ram province, and sold to a British art dealer, Douglas Latchford, who smuggled them to the US.

Phanombut said that the Thai committee tasked with securing the return of artefacts has been seeking help from US Homeland Security investigators to secure their return to Thailand since 2020.

After studying documents, sent from Thailand, the museum admitted that the statues were smuggled out of Thailand but, according to procedure, they could only be returned to Thailand with the approval of the museum’s committee.

The return procedure involves the museum’s committee proposing that the artefacts be removed from the museum’s inventory, the seeking of opinions from all stakeholders over six months and, finally, the committee consenting to return the artefacts to their rightful owner, according to Phanombut.