The Toledo Museum of Art announced earlier this month that it will return a nearly 1,000-year- old bronze sculpture of the Hindu god Ganesha to the Government of India.

The Ganesha was purchased in 2006 from art dealer Subhash Kapoor, who is currently awaiting trial in India on charges of illegal exportation, criminal conspiracy and forgery.

Research conducted by the Museum, with the assistance and cooperation of the Indian Consulate General,Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay, and the Ambassador of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar, and their respective representatives, led Museum Director Brian Kennedy to recommend the return to the Museum’s Art Committee. That committee voted on Aug. 21 to deaccession the Ganesha from the collection and facilitate its return.

“Although there is an ongoing investigation of Mr. Kapoor’s alleged illegal activities being conducted , in the case of the Ganesha the evidence provided by Indian authorities was convincing. We believe this sculpture was stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu province sometime before 2006,” said Dr. Kennedy. “As was true with other items the Museum has returned in recent years, it is part of our collections policy to deaccession and return any object for which we cannot provide clear title. We could wait for our own government’s investigation to run its course, but we believe the Indian people deserve to have this remarkable example of their cultural heritage returned now.”

The Museum purchased a total of eight objects from Subhash Kapoor’s Art of the Past gallery in New York City in the period from 2001–2010. The Museum continues to work with Indian authorities and other sources to obtain information on these works. In the meantime, all objects purchased from Kapoor have been taken off public view.

Photographs of the Toledo Museum of Art’s Kapoor acquisitions are available online athttp://www.toledomuseum.org/provenance/kapoor-acquisitions/. Anyone with pertinent information is invited to contact the Museum’s registrar at provenance@toledomuseum.org.