A stolen 12th century bronze Buddha statue was returned to India by the London Metropolitan Police on 15 August, coinciding with India’s 72nd Independence Day ceremony held at the High Commission of India in London. The 16-and-a-half-centimeter bronze is one of 14 statues that were stolen from the Archaeological Museum in Nalanda, Bihar, in 1961.

Detective Chief Inspector Sheila Stewart of the Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Unit delivered the statue to the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Y. K. Sinha. During their investigation, the Art and Antiques Unit, one of the oldest specialist units of the Met, found that the statue had changed hands several times over the past 57 years before surfacing at an art fair in Maastricht, The Netherlands, where the statue was identified.

“I am delighted to return this piece of history. This is an excellent example of the results that can come with close cooperation between law enforcement, trade, and scholars,” said Stewart, who was accompanied at the ceremony by officials from the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport. (The Quint)

The statue, made from bonze with silver inlays, represents the Buddha in a seated posture, demonstrating the bhumisparsha mudra (earth-touching gesture). According to art historians, the statue is a prime example of Pala art, a style dating back to the time of the Pala empire (eighth–12th centuries) when the Buddhist Pala dynasty ruled much of the modern states of Bihar and West Bengal, as well as what is now Bangladesh.

In March, Lynda Albertson, CEO of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Arts— an organisation working to preserve cultural heritage—and Vijay Kumar, founder of the India Pride Project—a body dedicated to bringing back India’s lost treasures—recognized the statue at the international art fair and informed the police.