Following an extensive provenance investigation, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has formally repatriated a masterfully carved black stone sculpture of Vishnu and Laksmi to the authorities in Bangladesh. The piece, which dates to the 10th century during the Pala Dynasty, was identified as having been illegally removed from a temple site in the Rajshahi region decades ago.
The restitution is part of a growing trend of major American institutions reviewing their South Asian collections for items with problematic ownership histories. The sculpture will be housed in the National Museum in Dhaka, where it is expected to serve as a centerpiece for a new gallery dedicated to Buddhist and Hindu medieval art.