As part of its pledge to remove illicit holdings from its collection, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Asian Art said on Thursday that it would return three objects to Cambodia that were likely looted more than 50 years ago during that country’s era of civil upheaval.
The artworks, “Head of Harihara,” a composite of the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu; “The Goddess Uma,” another Hindu deity; and “Prajnaparamita,” a female figure representing the “perfection of wisdom” in Buddhism, are all sculptures that date to the Khmer Empire.
Chase F. Robinson, the director of the Asian art museum, said that after being approached about the museum’s holdings from Cambodia’s thousand-year-old Khmer culture, curators shared acquisition records with Cambodian investigators. Those records showed that there were no export licenses for the objects, as required under Cambodian law, and that the items had passed through the hands of middlemen known to have trafficked in looted artworks.
“It became clear that pieces coming out of Cambodia in the ’60s and ’70s and as late as the ’80s were connected to dealers and collectors who were working illegally,” Mr. Robinson said in an interview. “Our suspicions arose and our concerns increased in the case of all three of the objects.”
The museum said the objects were the first it had returned under a Smithsonian-wide policy adopted in 2022 requiring the institution’s 21 museums to weigh a wider range of factors, like archaeological plunder that might have occurred under colonial rule or illicit trade during periods of war and instability, when deciding whether to repatriate items.
Bradley J. Gordon, a lawyer for Cambodia’s culture ministry, said that now that the ownership question had been decided, officials were discussing how to allow the artifacts to stay on display at the Smithsonian.
Cambodia’s minister of culture and fine arts, Phoeurng Sackona, said she was encouraged by the museum’s willingness to open its files, both to acknowledge that some of the dealers whose names appeared there were disreputable and to recognize that the nation’s decades of violent turmoil had left it vulnerable to looters and smugglers.
“We are deeply grateful for the Smithsonian’s good-faith cooperation and the spirit of trust and partnership that made this return possible,” she said in a statement. “We also hope that other museums will follow the leadership of the Smithsonian Institution in adopting and actively implementing a policy of ethical returns.”
Mr. Robinson said his museum’s review began in 2022 after Cambodia, which has been working to recover hundreds of sacred statues and other items looted during decades of strife, asked the museum to let it see any relevant provenance information.
He said that under the institution’s “shared stewardship and ethical returns” policy, which had just been implemented, the museum investigated alongside Cambodia.
While the Cambodians did not present detailed forensic evidence, such as remnants of the bases where statues once stood, Mr. Robinson said the totality of the circumstances was enough to warrant “serious ethical concerns” and justify restitution.
Mr. Robinson said the Smithsonian wanted to make transparency, rigorous provenance research and collaboration with foreign countries “a core part of the museum’s practice” in the hope that it would create a better atmosphere for exchanges.
Cambodian officials said they received similar cooperation from the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, which is in the process of returning 13 artworks from Cambodia’s Angkorian and Khmer era (802 to 1431 C.E.).
Museum and Cambodian officials said a joint investigation found that the 13 objects had moved through a network of smugglers and provenance falsifiers associated with Douglas A.J. Latchford, a prolific British dealer who was based in Thailand. Mr. Latchford died in August 2020, about nine months after he was indicted by federal officials in New York on charges of illegal sales and trafficking of art from Southeast Asia.
Soyoung Lee, the director of the San Francisco museum, said in an interview that her institution had decided the objects were tainted by Latchford’s involvement.
“It does take time to investigate to be absolutely certain,” said Ms. Lee, who visited Cambodia as part of her provenance research. After the Latchford connection became undeniable, she added, “it was very clear to all of us that this group of objects was illegally removed.” The items include statues and heads of Hindu deities and a sandstone lion.
As in the case of the Smithsonian, Cambodian officials are discussing whether the San Francisco museum may continue to display some of the artifacts that have been restituted as part of a loan.
Both Mr. Robinson and Ms. Lee said they were eager to make fresh arrangements with Cambodia that would allow for frequent exchanges of rare objects and cooperation in research, conservation and cultural heritage protection.
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