Ancient gold Coffin which was acquired by the Metropolitan museum in 2017, and was featured in an exhibit of artifacts from ancient Egypt, is on its way back to Egypt after it was determined to be a looted antiquity.
It was transported through the United Arab Emirates to Germany, where it was restored, and to France, where the Met bought the piece from a Paris art dealer in July 2017 for about $4 million. The museum was given fraudulent documents, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license, according to prosecutors.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry held a repatriation ceremony in New York Wednesday to show off the glittering 2,100-year-old coffin.
Meanwhile, he announced that the coffin made in Egypt between approximately 150 and 50 B.C.E., once held the remains of a high-ranking priest Nedjemankh. It was stolen from the Minya region of Egypt in the aftermath of the Egyptian Revolution in October 2011, and was then smuggled out of Egypt.
elaborately decorated coffin
Vance reported that returning stolen cultural treasures to their countries of origin is at the core of our mission to stop the trafficking of stolen antiquities.
According to ancient texts, the use of gold in the coffin would have helped the deceased inside to reborn in the next life.
The coffin's elaborate exterior has scenes and texts in thick gesso relief that were intended to give Nedjemankh protecton and guide him on his journey from death to 'eternal life as a transfigured spirit.
Some unique features include thin sheets of silver foil on the interior of the lid, intended to add more protection, but this time to Nedjemankh's face.
The coffin in a shipping container was smuggled out of Egypt Met
Noteworthy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is perhaps America's most esteemed art museum, has given up a stolen antiquity from its vast collections such as; the Gold Coffin of Nedjemankh.
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