A Japanese museum has acknowledged that a showcase Buddhist statue in its collection was stolen from China and has promised to return it, the museum's curator said yesterday.
The Miho Museum, located near the ancient capital city of Kyoto, last year invited Chinese officials to investigate rumors that the statue was one that had gone missing from China's Shandong Province in 1994, said Chief Curator Hiroaki Katayama.
Both sides determined that the figure was indeed the missing artwork and agreed on Monday that it would be transported back to China, said Katayama.
Katayama said he had been perplexed by speculation beginning in 1999 that the statue had been stolen, as the museum had put it on display two years earlier.
The Miho purchased the work in 1995 from the Eskenazi art dealer in London, said Katayama, adding that Eskenazi had originally bought it from another source in London. Katayama did not know which, according to the Associated Press.
The 1.2-meter-high statue of a standing bodhisattva, or a Buddhist person of great spiritual awareness, was carved in the 6th century. Katayama said it is valued at about US$813,000.
Japan, whose main religions are Buddhism and the indigenous Shinto nature worship, is a main buyer of Chinese cultural artifacts.
The Miho Museum promised to consult with the Chinese government before buying cultural artifacts in China.
The Miho Museum plans to return the statue to Shandong in 2007, in time for an exhibit planned that year in the province.
The Japanese museum has no responsibility under Japanese law to return the statue as it was purchased in good faith, but opted to do so free of charge as a goodwill gesture, said Katayama.
"The way we see it, that Buddhist statue will become the basis of a stronger friendship in the future," said the Japanese curator.
(eastday.com 04/19/2001)
