Art Institute will return Buddha sculpture to Nepal
The Art Institute of Chicago announced Monday it would return a 12th century Nepali sculpture of the Buddha to Nepal.
The museum is collaborating with the government of Nepal for the return of the piece, titled 'Buddha Sheltered by the Serpent King Muchalinda,' which had been part of its collection.
'This return reflects the importance of provenance research, as well as the Art Institute's proactive outreach and collaboration with countries and communities,' said the Art Institute's Jacques Schuhmacher in a statement. 'We are grateful to work in partnership with our colleagues from Nepal to return this object to its place of origin, and to collaborate and learn from each other into the future.'
The museum describes the sculpture as depicting a story of divine intervention: During a storm, 'the serpent king Muchalinda rose to form a protective cave around the Buddha, permitting him to remain in deep meditation.' The sculpture had been on regular display since 1997.
The museum said Monday that it had 'discovered new details about the sculpture's history and shared this information with the Embassy of Nepal in Washington, D.C. Working together, the Art Institute and the Government of Nepal agreed the sculpture had been stolen from Guita Bahi in the Kathmandu Valley and collectively decided on its return to Nepal.'
Schuhmacher was appointed last summer as executive director of Provenance Research, a team created at the museum in 2020 to work with curators, researchers and museum leaders to look into the ownership history of its artwork. Provenance research has become an increasingly important topic for museums to determine the backgrounds of items in their collections and how they were acquired.
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