Tuesday, March 27, 2007

More re duck-shaped vessels retrieved by Egypt

http://tinyurl.com/23opew (sis.gov.eg)
"Egypt has succeeded in retrieving two food alabaster boxes in the shape of ducks which had been excavated by Dr. Dieter Arnold in 1979 from the pyramid complex of Amenemhat III at Dahshur then smuggled abroad. These were reconstructed, then taken immediately to the magazines at Saqqara and stored there, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced Sunday.
Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass explained that such boxes returned back to Egypt with the help of Arnold who is now a senior curator at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Hawass continued that several years ago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the other from Rupert Wace Ancient Art Limited in London. Arnold was intrigued by these ducks, as he knew they must be royal, but the Metropolitan Museum was not satisfied with their provenances and decided against buying them. However, he and his assistant, Adela Oppenheim, continued to study photographs of these ducks and realised that they were, in fact, the same ducks that Arnold has excavated in 1979. Arnold informed Hawass immediately of this situation."
See the above page for the full story.

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