Egypt recovers Ramesside statue

Ahram Online

The Antikhenmuseum in Basel, Switzerland will return to Egypt a limestone relief depicting a hunting scene from the daily life of its owner. The relief is dated to the fifth dynasty of the Old Kingdom (c. 2649-2134 BC) and it is 51cm high x 83cm in width.

The artefact will return to Egypt later this week as part of the repatriation campaign of Zahi Hawass, minister of state for antiquities affairs (MSAA), who, in 2002, when he was still the secretary general of what was then the Supreme Council of Antiquities, threatened to cut scientific and research ties with any museums, universities or other institutions that held stolen antiquities from the country.

The Basel museum volunteered to return this piece immediately after discovering that it was a stolen from Saqqara.

Al Masry Al Youm

Egypt has made arrangements with Swiss authorities to return an Egyptian limestone painting currently held at the Antikenmuseum Basel (Basel Museum of Ancient Art) in Switzerland.

The 51cm-high painting is from the fifth pharaonic dynasty and depicts fishing and daily life scenes, according to a statement on Wednesday from the Antiquities Ministry.

The statement said the return of the painting to Egypt is part of a plan by the ministry to retrieve Egyptian artifacts smuggled out of the country.

Ahram Online

The inspection ordered by the ministry of state for antiquities affairs of a newly recovered red granite statue reveals that it is a genuine artefact, dated to the Ramesside period, almost 3300 years ago.

The statue features an unidentified priest seated behind two ancient Egyptian deities; Osiris and Isis. The statue is 56cm high by 28cm in width and bears hieroglyphic texts.