Smuggled Old Kingdom Statue Returned to Egypt

According to an Ahram Online report, an Old Kingdom statue depicting the priest Nikau-Ptah has been returned to Egypt from an art gallery in the Netherlands.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, in collaboration with the Egyptian Embassy in Amsterdam and the concerned authorities in the Netherlands, succeeded in repatriating an ancient Egyptian statue of an Old Kingdom priest Nikaw-Ptah that was stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country of Egypt.

The statue has arrived safely in Egypt and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has handed it over to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, the general supervisor of the Repatriation Antiquities Department, explains that the statue was put on sale at the annual European exhibition of fine arts, Tefaf, in Maastricht, Netherlands.

He added that the statue was illegally excavated and was not from the collection of any museum or archaeological site of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

He pointed out that the statue is legless and features the priest standing and wearing a short skirt. His name is engraved on his right hand.