A prominent art dealer in New York has been arrested for acquiring and selling stolen artifacts from several Asian countries including India. Nancy Wiener, who runs the Nancy Wiener Gallery, had close links with Subhash Kapoor, another New York art dealer who is now facing trial in Chennai for smuggling hundreds of antiques out of India, according to a complaint filed by the U.S Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday.
The 12-page complaint filed in Manhattan Criminal Court cites multiple incidents of smuggling from India, an operation that involved several conspirators. Ms. Wiener oversaw an elaborate mechanism that camouflaged the transfer of stolen objects to the U.S and their subsequent sale to reputed institutions by faking their history and origins.
The complaint details the smuggling of a Chola period kaliyamardhanam statue from Tamil Nadu by Mr. Kapoor, who sought Ms. Wiener’s help to appraise and sell it. Mr. Kapoor bought the 11th century Krishna in 2005 and smuggled it to New York, hidden in a shipment of legal handicrafts, as is a common practice to evade law enforcement. In June 2006, he sent it to a U.K based restorer for
restoration to hide the signs of looting. According to seized emails, Mr. Kapoor sent pre and post-restoration pictures of the stolen Krishna , to Ms. Wiener and requested that she prepare an appraisal to assist in the future sale of the statue, the complaint said. She valued the piece at $3,500,000, according to the complaint.
Ranjeet Kanwar and Vaman Ghiya, two India based art dealers who were suppliers of artifacts to Mr. Kapoor, are also named in the complaint. Details of these two are unavailable. In one instance, the accused sold a Buddha from India to the National Gallery of Australia, in Canberra, Australia, for
$1,080,000 by forging its ownership history. After India complained it was looted, Ms. Wiener returned the money to gallery. The NGA returned this piece, along with several other stolen items, to India in September.
The accused and her mother Doris Wiener who died in 2011 brought Indian artifacts into the limelight in the U.S, and sold them to many reputed art museums in the country over the last four decades. The U.S wants Mr. Kapoor extradited from India after his trial and punishment is over in India. He was arrested in Germany in 2011.
