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A little over three weeks ago the Egyptian government prevented July 4th, a small bust of the god Amon represented with the features of Tutankhamun change hands for a price that, according to the English company, should be close to the vertiginous figure of 4 million pounds sterling (about 4.5 million euros).
Egypt does everything to prevent it. As reported in the last few hours, he went to UNESCO to take action on this and has already contacted the British Foreign Office and the auction house through the intermediary of his Embbady in London to stop the sales process.
"In addition to claiming the right of Egypt regarding this piece in accordance with the Egyptian laws in force and previous," said the government through two communications published by its foreign affairs and antiquities in Cairo.
This is not the only Egyptian archaeological object to make an offer that day, so the authorities of the Arab country have also demanded the documents of ownership of these properties.
The reaction came a week ago, Christie's announced on his website the auction of a Tutankhamun quartzite bust represented by the god Amun.
The British auction house states that the head was part of a statue of Amon, the god of the sun and the most important deity of the new kingdom of ancient Egypt (between the sixteenth and the 11th century BC).
The sculpture presents the distinctive crown of Amon, which is to be completed by two large double feathers (traditional representation of the god), measures about 28.5 centimeters and is about 3,000 years old.
Christie's indicates that the object is being sold by Resandro, one of the private collections of art The most important Egyptian and to which, says the British company, helped sell the significant amount of 3 million pounds sterling on objects three years ago.
But can Egypt stop selling the bust?
In accordance with the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Importation, Export and Transfer of Illicit Goods of Cultural Property of UNESCO, any object acquired or a country without a legal export document after this date will be considered illegal.
That is to say that any piece having left Egypt after 1970 and not possessing an export certificate is presumed stolen.
The object must actually be part of the country's historical heritage, for which inventories of the authorities and heritage institutions of each nation are usually tracked for reference.
But the main problem usually lies in the demonstration of the date on which the object left the place of origin.
In the case of this bust of Tutankhamun, transformed into a pharaoh at age 9 and who reigned over Egypt between 1333 and 1323, the subject seems difficult.
Wanting to almost answer the question, Christie's narrates in the presentation document of the play the path of sculpture in recent years.
"The lot was acquired in 1985 by Heinz Herzer, a Munich-based dealer," said the auction house, stating that before the object was pbaded into the hands of the auction house, the auction house said that Austrian Joseph Messina.
But what about Messina? According to Christie's, the Austrian acquired between 1973 and 1974 the bust of Prince Wilhelm von Thurn and Taxis, which "so-called," says British society, had it in his collection since the 1960s.
By the way, according to the official website of the Von Thurn family and Taxis, the prince who ran the house from 1971 to his death in 1982 was Karl August.
The simplest option for Egypt to recover the coin is that the seller can not prove that the German prince had this bust of the mouth "with slightly fallen lips and almond shaped eyes" before 1970 .
Otherwise, the country of the pharaohs will have to fight in court so that Tutankhamen can return near the Nile.
jlp / fc / icn
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