A senior official from the Fine Arts Department has left for the United States to examine two artefacts, including the “Golden Boy”, which are to be returned to Thailand by the Metropolitan Museum of Arts (The MET) in New York City.

Culture Minister Sermsak Pongpanich said that he has assigned Nittaya Kanokmongkol, director of the Office of the National Museum, to go to the US to examine the two artefacts and to discuss the exact timing for their delivery back to Thailand.

He said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on technical cooperation, between Thailand’s Fine Arts Department and The MET, will be signed by the director-general of the department, Phanombut Chantarachot, and Max Hollein, the director and chairman of The MET.

He also said that The MET will meet the expenses involved in the return of the two artefacts, which are expected to arrive in Thailand in May.

The “Golden Boy” bronze statue was discovered in Ban Yang in Lahan Sai district of Buri Ram, near the Cambodian border, during an archaeological dig at Prasat Ban Yang ruins over five decades ago.

The other bronze, about 900 years old, features a female figure in a kneeling position, with one knee on the floor and the other straightening up and two hands above the head in a “wai” posture.

Both statues were connected to Douglas Latchford, an American antique trader, who was indicted by the New York attorney’s office for illegally trading antiques in 2019 and 2021. The statues were later removed from The MET’s inventory.