31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002
Issue No.571
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002 Issue No.571 |
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The dance with robbers continues
When I went to New York to examine the artefacts seized by the FBI (I refer to the Egyptian antiquities seized in New York from antiquities dealer Frederick Schultz) I was accompanied by Egyptologist David Silverman of the University of Pennsylvania's University Museum.
There were four recovered antiquities. One was the beautiful head of a statue of King Amenhotep III, which I described in my last column, and the second was a limestone fragment from an Old Kingdom tomb. We were surprised at the very large size of this piece. Questions raced through my mind. How could such a large relief have been smuggled out of Egypt? How did the robbers enter the tomb behind the backs of guards, police, and antiquities inspectors? How could it have passed through Cairo airport security? I was so distressed at the sight of this marvellous piece that had been dug out of the wall of a tomb that I was on the verge of tears.
The piece, which was about 90 centimetres long and 60 high, showed two main figures and a smaller one in raised and painted relief. The tomb owner stood on the left, grasping a staff in his left hand and holding a kheper scepter in his right. Facing him on his right was a woman, perhaps his wife, who held a lotus blossom to her nose in her right hand, while in the other she grasped the necks of five ducks. Behind the man, a child was carved on a smaller scale. I could tell that the relief had been cut from an Old Kingdom sixth-dynasty tomb at Saqqara.
The third piece we looked at was a beautiful bronze statue of the falcon deity Horus. It was about 35 centimetres high, with finely incised lines indicating the pattern of feathers. Heavily sculpted areas around the eyes outlined the unique markings of the falcon. We discussed the piece and concluded that it was a Late Period statue, and that it probably came from the Western Delta.
The fourth and last piece that we examined was another relief fragment showing agricultural scenes, with inscriptions that read "the Overseer of the Palace."
How could Schultz, a man supposedly devoted to protecting antiquities, become a dealer in stolen artefacts? We do not yet know the answer to this vexing question. A representative from the United States Attorney General's office was here a few weeks ago to see our minister of justice, Farouk Seif El-Nasr, and District Attorney Abdel-Wahed El-Wakeel to discuss the Egyptian law (Law 117 of 1983) and how it was being applied to punish those involved in the desecration of monuments and smuggling of antiquities. It had been claimed that local farmers and builders had found the artefacts in Egypt.
In 1995, as I recall, five British art dealers and a police officer were arrested as part of an international smuggling operation. They were cooperating with corrupt Egyptian archaeologists to steal artefacts from tombs and storage sites in Saqqara. They broke into storage areas and removed hieroglyphic reliefs, gold jewellery, amulets, and statues from recent excavations. They even made off with some valuable papyrus texts. I thank God that those people were apprehende d and most of the stolen artefacts returned to Egypt.
To be continued...
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