Northampton set to appeal

The local newspaper in Northampton is reporting that the leader of the Council is planning to appeal against the decision by Arts Council England to remove accreditation from the Borough Council's museums. 

I am sure that Northampton Borough Council will be releasing the full details of their consultation with the Museums Association and ACE prior to the sale of the Egyptian statue.  

Northampton decision by Arts Council England

Today's announcement by Arts Council England indicates that museums in Northampton have lost their accredited status. in effect this means that they will be unable to apply for arts related grants for at least the next five years.

ACE has taken this decision due to the deaccessioning and sale of an Egyptian statue donated to Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.

who are the losers? 

First the people of Northampton. Not only have they lost a first rate Egyptian statue of international significance, but now the plans to develop their local museum will have to be shelved for at least five years.  I Understand that this has divided the Northampton community but this ruling effects everyone, whichever side they had taken. moreover this decision has damaged the reputation of Northampton.

Second the curatorial team in the museum service in Northampton. they are now implicated in the decision to deaccession the statue. they need to make it clear if they spoke out against the decision.

Third the Friends of Northampton Museum and Art Gallery. This body has tried to support the museum but its endeavours will now be in vain.

Fourth the wider general public in the UK who expect museums to preserve and protect objects that they acquire for the good of all.

Fifth local politicians who do not appear to have taken appropriate advice before selling the statue.

I am sure that there will be  recriminations in Northampton as those responsible for this chain of actions  face up to the consequences of their actions.

Museums Association and Northampton

It seems that the Museums Association has reviewed the decision of Northampton Museum and Art Gallery to sell its Egyptian statue to fund future developments. It looks as if the the MA do not consider that Northampton followed the due process to deaccession the statue as outlined in the MA code of ethics, This is probably the first step in the process for the Northampton museum service to lose its accreditation.

Local councillors and officers in Northampton will now have to explain why they took the course of action that they followed.

Sekhemka: Museums Association comment

The Museums Association has updated its comment on the sale of Sekhemka by the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery. This statement includes the very telling section:

... the MA said that Northampton Borough Council has not demonstrated that the sale of Sekhemka is funding of last resort in relation to the development plans for the museum site. In addition, its plans to share the proceeds from the sale indicate that legal title of the object is not resolved.

It will be interesting to see how this is resolved.

Northampton Borough Council issue a statement over the sale of Sekhemka

Northampton Borough Council (NBC) has issued a statement over the sale of the statue of Sekhemka for over £15 million (Thursday 10 July 2014, press release). NBC hopes to retain c. £8 million for the museum development project that they expect to cost £14 million (see here).

This means that NBC will be needing to attract some £6 million worth of funding. The press release tells us:

"The Borough Council is in the process of developing a funding package to take the extension forward, including putting together a bid for support from the Heritage Lottery Fund."

In other words, NBC are expecting to look to the Heritage Lottery Fund to provide a large portion of the additional funding. But there is a great demand for these funds, and the HLF panel have the potential of not looking too kindly on what has happened in Northampton (and especially against the advice of the Museums Association).

The press release also suggests that the Borough Council has realised that the accreditation of the museum service has been jeopardised by the sale:

The Council is also continuing to talk to the Arts Council about museum accreditation.

If accreditation is suspended it probably means that the museum development project will have to be halted and the sale of Sekhemka will have been for nothing.

And the residents of Northampton will have missed out twice over.

Implications of the Sekhemka Sale

ICOM has raised the issue that the sale of Sekhemka may have implications for the rise of looting in Egypt.

ICOM is ... concerned that the sale of the statue, estimated between 5 and 7.5 million euros [$27 million], according to the same press release, may result in an increase of illicit excavation and trafficking of antiquities in Egypt, an area already exposed to such risks.

This is not a straightforward issue.

First, the Sekhemka statue has been known (and documented) since the mid-nineteenth century (1849/50) when it was acquired by the Second Marquess of Northampton and left Egypt. In other words, Sekhemka came to England well before the formulation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property [details]. And in a market where so much of the material on offer has surfaced after (or has no authenticated documentation prior to) 1970, the Sekhemka statue offered a well documented collecting history (or, to use an obsolete and misleading term, "provenance"). Collecting histories can add to the value of an object.

Second, the Sekhemka statue does not come in the category of recently looted objects. However, the unarticulated concern of ICOM is that potential looters (or raiders of archaeological storage facilities) in Egypt will see the sorts of sums that could be raised by a single Egyptian sculpture and will try to benefit by grabbing some material that they will endeavour to get onto the European, Middle Eastern, or North American art markets. I doubt that looter would achieve $27 million for a single object: consider the cut for the trail of people need to move the object out of Egypt, the transport costs, an agent in Europe, fees, etc. But looters could think that they will be able to find another piece. But even if they did, it would not have the documented collecting history of Sekhemka, and would therefore fall under immediate suspicion (thereby lowering its value). And such searching by looters damages previously unknown and unexcavated archaeological contexts, and this leads to a loss of knowledge that can never be replaced.

Separate to these two issues is the one that has given most concern to the residents of Northampton, as well as to museum professionals. Should the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery have deaccessioned this major sculpture in order to obtain funds to do something else with its collections? Have the local politicians of Northampton contravened the ethical framework for the UK museum community? These are issues explored elsewhere on Looting Matters.

And will this lead to the future isolation of the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery? And what will be the implications for potential donations and bequests not just to Northampton, but to every single museum in the UK?