The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is never far from the news headlines

Khmer Art Overseas: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is never far from the news headlines. In recent years, their collection of more than 1.5 million objects has come under serious scrutiny from a number of sources whether it’s the Cambodian Government or the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the United States Department of Justice or the general public themselves. The Met have just announced they are hiring four experts to investigate the history of their own collection, for goodness sake! They have so many pieces in their collection that were allegedly stolen or lack serious provenance, that this latest attempt to placate the vociferous calls for action is almost comical. An ICIJ report identified 1,109 pieces - 309 currently on display - belonged to people indicted or convicted of antiquities crimes before they wound up at the Met. Fewer than half of them held provenance records that explained how they left their country of origin - a common issue that makes it difficult to determine if they were smuggled out in violation of a nation’s laws restricting the international sale of antiquities. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has seized artworks from Turkey, Egypt and Italy from the museum and returned them to their countries of origin in recent times. Frankly, its embarrassing that the trendsetting-leader amongst the world’s art museums has failed at the most basic of levels to ensure the integrity of their collection. U.S. congresswoman Lori Trahan joined the chorus of notable names calling for action, as she issued a 25 May deadline for the Met to respond to her specific questions over 13 pieces of Khmer art that disgraced dealer Douglas Latchford sold to the museum. Trahan, the representative for Lowell in Massachusetts and co-chair of the Congressional Cambodia Caucus is demanding answers and commitments from the Met. The Project Brazen podcast, Dynamite Doug, with six-episodes broadcast over the past two months, highlighted the involvement of one of the Met’s senior curators in whitewashing Latchford’s reputation. The Cambodian Restitution team have been a constant thorn in the side of the Met. Looter turned informer, Lion, recognized 33 pieces at the Met as ones that he personally stole from temples in Cambodia, and they are some of the 45 items which the team are concentrating their focus on, though they’d like answers on the provenance of a total of 150 artworks. The Met are under severe pressure from all quarters, though they still prevaricate and stall for time in the hope that the news cycle will move onto the next shiny object. It’s too late for that now, the eyes of the world are upon them and they need to act judiciously.