Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art will return three bronze sculptures to India after provenance review

On 10 February 2026, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) in Washington, DC, announced it will deaccession and return three bronze Hindu sculptures to India after a provenance review found they were removed illegally. Two bronzes date to the Chola period (around 990 and the 12th century) and one to the Vijayanagar period (16th century), all originating from Tamil Nadu and made for temple worship and ritual processions using the lost-wax technique. NMAA researchers working with the Photo Archives of the French Institute of Pondicherry determined the objects were photographed in Tamil Nadu temples between 1956 and 1959, and India’s Archaeological Survey concluded they were taken in violation of national laws. The oldest work, a Shiva Nataraja (around 990), will remain at NMAA on long-term loan from India with updated interpretive signage providing fuller historical context.

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