ASIAN ART MUSEUM REPATRIATES LIMESTONE BURIAL URNS TO THE NMP

Following the recent turnover ceremony of limestone burial urns in Los Angeles, the National Museum of the Philippines’ engagements in California continued with another successful repatriation at the 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐮𝐦 (𝐀𝐀𝐌) in San Francisco.

Last 13 April, the AAM, represented by its Deputy Director and Chief Experience Officer Emiko K. Usui, Chief Curator Dr. Robert Mintz, Associate Curator Dr. Natasha Reichle, and Commissioner France Viana, turned over two of its deaccessioned limestone burial urns. Representing the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco were Consul General Arnel Talisayon, Deputy Consul General Maria Paz Cortes, and Vice Consul Glaiza Quarteros.

The repatriation effort gained momentum in 2024 after the NMP was formally informed of the jars’ presence at the AAM following discussions between NMP Trustee Carlo Ebeo, the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, and KULARTS Executive Director Alleluia Panis. In October, the NMP formally requested the return of the anthropomorphic limestone jars. 

Donated to the museum in 1991, the two limestone urns were found to have been removed from the Philippines in violation of Presidential Decree No. 374, then governing the movement of cultural properties in and out of the country. The AAM staff and the San Francisco City Attorney, upon review, recommended their deaccession and return. Acting on a formal request from the Philippine government through the NMP, the Asian Art Commission unanimously approved the urns’ repatriation during its 24 September 2025 meeting, citing extensive research conducted by both museum staff and Philippine scholars. Logistical arrangements and documentation soon followed the deaccessioning of the objects, culminating in their formal turnover last April. 

The limestone burial urns remain on loan for a year to the Asian Art Museum while the NMP prepares for their eventual shipment to the Philippines. Discussions on possible exhibition or other programming are being negotiated while the objects are in the US to facilitate more engagements with the Filipino community in the area. These burial urns will be studied and validated under the care of the NMP Archaeology Division, along with the communities and other stakeholders, once they join the rest of the collections in the NMP. 

The National Museum of the Philippines is grateful to the Asian Art Museum for taking this important step to repatriate these Philippine collections and to the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco, California. The return of these objects to the country will provide a wider Filipino audience with access to better appreciate our heritage. Similar burial urns may be seen in the Sally von dem Hagen Kulaman limestone jar collection, currently on view at Gallery 1 of the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila.

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