The United States returns to Egypt a stolen sarcophagus that was exposed to the Met

The US authorities returned to Egypt on Wednesday, September 25, a sarcophagus purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in 2017. This coffin of nearly 1.80 m, gilded with fine gold, was made for Nedjemankh, priest of the god Heryshef ram-headed. It was the centerpiece of a Met exhibition bearing his name, which had to be terminated prematurely last February, the object having been handed over by the museum to the Manhattan Attorney's Office. A joint investigation by US, Egyptian, German and French authorities has indeed established that the sarcophagus was stolen in Egypt in 2011.

At a press conference in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, the prosecutor said the investigation had revealed "gross inconsistencies related to the sale". The sarcophagus thus surfaced for the first time shortly after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian revolution. "It should have been a warning signal"said the prosecutor.

It also appeared that the documents attesting the authenticity of the object, dated between 150 and 50 before J-C, and the legality of its provenance "had clearly been falsified". After passing through Dubai, Germany and Paris, the sarcophagus was sold to the Met for 3.5 million euros (about $ 4 million), by a French art dealer whose identity did not not been revealed. At the time of the announcement of the seizure of the sarcophagus, the Met had apologized to Egypt.

Prosecutor Cyrus Vance revealed these elements of the investigatione "in the hope that the people of the sector (art) take note and, perhaps, use the lessons learned in this file to examine their acquisitions more carefully ". The prosecutor said that the sarcophagus was among hundreds of objects stolen by the same criminal organization. "So you could see other important foreclosures of antiquities in the months and years to come." He said the investigation, begun seven years ago, was continuing.