There are several reports that the "eye" (c. 50 cm in length) from a statue of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BCE) will be returned to Egypt in the next four weeks ("Switzerland to return stolen Pharaoh's 'eye'", AFP, September 10, 2008; "Egitto recupera occhio Amenhotep da Svizzera", ANSA, September 10, 2008). According to ANSA, negotiations have been ongoing since 2006 (see "Egyptology News" from February 2006).The statue was discovered at Amenhotep's mortuary temple near Luxor in 1970 (or 1969, according to ANSA); the eye was subsequently stolen in 1972. It then passed into the hands of "an American antiquities dealer" (who?) and then passed through Sotheby's (where? when?).
It then passed into the hands of a "German antiquities dealer" (who?) and was then, according to AFP, sold to a "museum in Basel, Switzerland" - identified as the Antikenmuseum by the ANSA report. A parallel report by ANSA suggests that a Swiss collector had donated the eye to the museum in 2002 ("un collezionista svizzero che l'aveva donato al museo") after acquiring it at Sotheby's.
The report, from two reputable news sources, seems to lack detail at critical points. Is the "Swiss collector" the same as the "German antiquities dealer"?
What is interesting is that stolen, but recorded, antiquities from Egypt are being returned on a regular basis.
The Antikenmuseum will, perhaps, need to look at its acquisition policy. Should it require documented histories of antiquities?
3 comments:
For the original request: "Egypt asks a U.S. museum to return a mummy mask disappeared 45 years ago", AP, February 23, 2006:
"The SCA said it also asked Basel Museum in Switzerland to return the left eye of a statue of king Amenhotep III, which it said was stolen from a temple in Luxor several years ago."
Marc
I am grateful for this information and the confirmation that the eye had once been in the Norbert Schimmel collection. (See Tamim Elyan, "Egypt to retrieve Amenhoteb III's stolen eye", Daily Egypt News September 10, 2008.
I think that you would agree that the news stories are confused.
It would be helpful if the Antikenmuseum Basel could issue a press statement.
Best wishes
David
Marc Fehlmann asks:"So the question remains: why did the Egyptians not react before the Sotheby's sale?"
I think the realistic answer is that there is so much Egyptian stuff of dubious and unstated origin scattered in a huge number of collections - both private and public - all over the world that it would require a mammoth effort to check up and chase up every single one of them in just a few years. The SCA set up the Department for Retrieving Stolen Artifacts in 2003 (so after this sale) and it has been an uphill battle persuading collectors and museum professionals to part with objects that quite clearly are stolen. I personally think the archaeological services of the so-called "source countries" like Egypt need all the help and support they can get from those concerned about the integrity of the archaeological record, rather than criticism for their alleged tardiness or neglect in the past.
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