[CPProt.net] Stolen crown theory mars Thai exhibit; crown probably stolen from crypt at Buddhist temple of Wat Ratchaburana at Ayutthaya, once the capital of Siam

[MSN and CPProt list (Ton Cremers)]

Stolen crown theory mars Thai exhibit 
TV reporter in L.A. creates stir that reaches Bangkok 
- Jesse Hamlin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, March 5, 2005 

 
Since 1982, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has owned and displayed a 15th
century gold Siamese crown that's intricately decorated with scrolls and
vines and studded with rubies and pearls. 

That exquisite object, now on view at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum in
the exhibition "The Kingdom of Siam: The Art of Central Thailand,
1350-1800,'' became a hot topic in the Thai press this week when a Thai TV
reporter in Los Angeles filed a story saying the crown was probably stolen
from a crypt at the famous Buddhist temple of Wat Ratchaburana at Ayutthaya,
once the capital of Siam. 

It's not news that in 1957, thieves looted a previously unknown sacred
chamber deep within that central Thai temple, or that the Thai government
recovered much but not all of the booty, excavated the site and found many
more valuable objects. 

But when Jom Patch of the Thai network ITV learned from interviewing
curators here that the gold crown probably came from the sacred crypt and,
in his words, "might be stolen,'' he thought he had himself a scoop. 

"I thought it was news,'' says Patch, who lives in Los Angeles and is
somewhat fluent in English. His story was picked up by the Associated Press
in Bangkok and reported in a number of daily papers. They include the
English- language Bangkok Post, which reported on Thursday that Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra "learned about the crown after seeing a
television documentary about its theft, and asked his ministers to
investigate.'' 

So far, nobody from the Thai government has contacted the Asian Art Museum
or the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which bought the crown at a Sotheby's
auction in 1982, has had it on view ever since, and features it in
publications and on its Web site. 

The whole affair baffles officials at the Asian Art Museum. They've spent a
good part of the last five years working with Thai institutions and other
museums to create this landmark exhibition, the first show of Thai art
presented in the United States in 33 years and the first to focus on the art
of the Kingdom of Siam. 

"I am kind of brokenhearted,'' says Forrest McGill, the museum's chief
curator, a Thai art scholar who wrote his doctoral dissertation at the
University of Michigan on the kingdom of Ayutthaya. "A group of American and
Thai scholars has been working together on this for years, produced a major
scholarly catalog and an exhibition of material that has hardly ever been
seen before. And we can't get the focus on that because, for now at least,
the focus seems to be on this one object.'' 

McGill and co-curator Pattaratorn Chirapravati, a Thai American woman who
teaches at Cal State Sacramento, think the hammered gold crown, which dates
from 1400 to 1450, "probably'' came from the sacred deposit chamber at Wat
Ratchaburana (because Americans think crypts are tombs, he says, the term
crypt was dropped). 

"But there's no proof,'' says McGill. When Thai officials started taking
stock of the recovered and newly unearthed objects, he adds, no photographs
were taken and "there was no systematic record of what was there.'' 

The show's catalog and wall text mention the probability that the crown came
from the sacred chamber and talk about the looting of the chamber in 1957.
One could surmise that "if it was originally in that chamber, and since we
know that it's not part of what Thai officials recovered, what's left?''
McGill says. "It must've been secreted out at that time.'' 

All of this information, he says, "has been in the public realm for years. I
don't see what the big deal is. I don't see why it's coming up now. None of
us feels comfortable about stolen property. None of us feels comfortable
about an archaeological site that's looted before it can be studied.
However, the Philadelphia Museum bought the crown fair and square at public
auction -- the Sotheby's catalog has a full-page color photograph of the
object -- and they've had it on display ever since. Why have they waited 23
years to investigate?'' 

The director of Thailand's Office of National Museums and the director
general of the Thai Fine Arts Department were part of the delegation that
flew here from Bangkok last month for the opening of the "Kingdom of Siam.''
Neither questioned the provenance of the crown, which the Sotheby's catalog
notes was acquired by a dealer named Klejman in 1965. 

"We take issue of provenance very seriously,'' Philadelphia Museum of Art
director Anne d'Harnoncourt said in a written statement, "and would of
course be ready to explore any questions about the history of the object
with the appropriate Thai officials.'' 

Jom Patch says he doesn't know much about art. But he knows a good story
when he sees it. 

E-mail Jesse Hamlin at jhamlin at sfchronicle.com. 

http://sfgate.com/