South Korea has reclaimed a stolen 18th century Buddhist painting from a U.S. art collector, the cultural agency said Tuesday.
The Cultural Heritage Administration said the work, presumed to be from about 1738, was donated by the American who had initially offered it at an auction in March. The agency reclaimed it last month after asking the collector to cancel its sale.
The work, which is 65 centimeters wide and 97 centimeters long, is a portrait of a great Seon monk that used to be kept inside Seonam Temple in Suncheon, located 294 kilometers south of Seoul.
It belongs to South Korea's largest Buddhist order of Jogye, but it remains unclear how the work made its way to the United States.
Shim Ju-wan, a Jogye Order official, said the painting is an "extremely valuable" study of South Korean art, being by one of the top students of Hwaseung, a great Buddhist painter.
"The fact that it was reclaimed without payment or political pressure makes it even more meaningful," he said.
The work will be exhibited at the Central Buddhist Museum in Seoul starting later Tuesday. (Yonhap)
