National Gallery to return three Indian sculptures

Three Indian stone sculptures from the National Gallery of Australia will be returned to the government of India after information emerged regarding their ownership history.

The three artefacts include two 15^th century door guardians (dvarapala) and a 6^th to 8^th century serpent king (Nagaraja).

National Gallery of Australia director Nick Mitzevich and one of the sculptures to be returned. Picture: Supplied

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will return the artefacts during his visit to India in January 2020.

"The return of these artefacts is the right thing to do. This is another demonstration of deep relationship between Australia and India," Mr Morrison said in a statement on Wednesday.

Another of the sculptures to be returned. Picture: Supplied

The three works were purchased from New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor who has been described by authorities as "one of the most prolific smugglers in the world". A criminal court case against Mr Kapoor is currently underway in India.

National Gallery of Australia director Nick Mitzevich said in light of the case it was right to return the sculptures.

"After studying the criminal complaint, there was sufficient doubt around the provenance of these sculptures to remove them from the national collection. We take these matters very seriously and have acted at the earliest opportunity," he said.

"Governance procedures have been implemented for us to assess and find a resolution on issues of provenance across the national collection."

Former High Court Justice Susan Crennan has conducted two provenance reviews for the gallery.

The NGA's director says returning the sculptures is the right thing to do. Picture: Supplied

Ms Crennan has provided a framework for evaluating evidence and assessing works of art with questionable chains of ownership. In cases where there was a high probability the works were illegally exported, deaccession and reparation was recommended.

Mr Mitzevich could not say whether there would be further deaccessions.

"We continue to scrutinise works that were identified as problematic in the independent review by Justice Susan Crennan," he said.

"We can't categorically say whether there will or will not be further deaccessions. However, continue to do research on these works."

Mr Mitzevich said in the new year they will move to establish an Ethics Advisory Committee.