In 1913 and 1917, two sculpted reliefs dating back to the Tang Dynasty, depicting two favorite horses of Taizong, one of the founding emperors of the Tang Dynasty, were smuggled out of China and illegally sold to the University of Pennsylvania in 1918 by an unscrupulous art dealer, C. T. Loo.
The reliefs are considered national treasures in China, and are some of the most well-known reliefs from the Tang Dynasty. Because of Loo's actions, only four of the original reliefs remain in the Shaanxi Forest of Steles Museum. The other two illegally sold reliefs, Sa Luzi and Quanmao Gua, remain in the Penn Museum. The Forest Steles Museum reached out to the Penn Museum in 2017 for the return of the two reliefs, but the Penn Museum did not agree, stating that they did not receive an official request by the government for the return of the reliefs.
These two reliefs hold great historical significance in China. They were illegally obtained from China, and keeping them in a western museum ensures that the shadow of colonialism still looms over the world. Many museums have already started the process of returning artifacts to their origin countries, and the Penn Museum can do so too.
Sign this petition if you agree that these historically valuable artifacts should be returned to their rightful place in China!
