"There were too many recovered objects to fit inside the London Metropolitan Police's (the Met) processing room. Boxes were carefully rolled in and out by experts, one by one revealing statues, frieze fragments, frescoes, chainmail armour, stucco heads and more. The Met had called in a global team of specialists to sort and identify them, and The Art Newspaper was invited to witness the process up close."
"Cameron Walter, the head of the HCTF, says initial findings suggest a Shiva statue may date to the Angkor Period of the Khmer Empire (9-15th century) in Cambodia, alongside ceremonial bronze objects from the same era, and a large Bodhisattva statue and several other objects may originate from the Gandhara region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Other artefacts could be from the Indus Valley civilisation (3300-1300BC), while wooden decorative elements may have come from a mosque in Syria or Iraq."
""Analysis and research is ongoing and we are also of course looking into the possibility of forgeries," Walter says, noting that traffickers sometimes introduce fakes to "muddy the background", generate extra revenue and make law enforcement's job harder. The Met first learned of the items in the summer, when detective constable Sophie Hays of the Art and Antiques Unit took a call from an individual offering to hand over artefacts in his possession-some of which he had kept for over a decade."
More than 300 recovered objects exceeded the Metropolitan Police processing room capacity, prompting specialists to roll boxes in and out and catalogue items individually. Two days of meticulous labelling, forensic analysis, crime-scene photography and a preliminary archaeological assessment resulted in 323 pieces being logged by the Heritage Crime Task Force established by the OSCE. Initial identifications include potential Angkor-period Khmer bronzes, a Shiva statue, Gandharan Bodhisattva works, Indus Valley artefacts and wooden elements possibly from a mosque in Syria or Iraq. Investigations continue and the possibility of forgeries is being examined.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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