More coverage of the return of a sculpture of the head of Amenhotep III [1] to Egypt from Britain.
From:
BBC News [2]
Page last updated at 13:01 GMT, Friday, 19 December 2008
Britain to return Egypt sculptureAn ancient sculpture of a pharaoh smuggled out of Egypt disguised as a tacky souvenir is to be returned home after almost 20 years.
Antiques restorer Jonathan Tokeley-Parry dipped the stone head of Amenhotep III in plastic and painted it black to make it resemble a cheap copy.
Now, 10 years after the Briton was jailed for his activities, the head is to be returned to Egypt in a ceremony.After a long legal battle, it will be handed to Egypt’s ambassador in London.
False provenance
The sculpture, depicting the pharaoh who died in 1375BC, was smuggled out the country in 1990, breaching Egyptian laws banning the export of antiques more than 100 years old.
The head was then passed from country to country, and at one stage it was given a false provenance dating it to the 1920s.
Tokeley-Parry, a well-known figure in the art world, was caught in 1994 when an assistant tried to sell papyrus texts to the British Museum.
The museum recognised them as stolen and called the police.
He was convicted in 1997 of illegally selling stolen archaeological finds, and spent three years in prison.
In 1999, the Metropolitan Police recovered the head sculpture.
At the ceremony at the Egyptian embassy in London later, Egyptian ambassador Hatem Seif El Nasr will receive the sculpture.
Karen Sanig, head of art law at London law firm Mishcon de Reya, said: “As so often happens with cultural heritage artefacts, the perpetrators of the crime are apprehended and dealt with long before the art finds its way back to the true owner.
“The reason is that there is no international law which deals with the trafficking of stolen art and antiquities.”
From:
Scotsman [3]
Friday, 26th December 2008
A pharaoh cop as smuggler’s ingenious export goes home
Published Date: 20 December 2008
By Shan RossTHE theft was like something from a film featuring his hero James Bond.
The antiques smuggler hid in a Cairo workshop surrounded by paintbrushes and gold leaf, plotting to take a priceless sculpture out of Egypt disguised as a replica of Tutankhamun’s mask.After dipping the head of the pharoah Amenhotep III in a clear plastic liquid, Jonathan Tokely-Parry covered it with gold leaf and painted on crude black stripes to make it look like a cheap reproduction.
The final touch was covering it in wrapping paper from a back street souvenir shop.
Tokely-Parry, whose real name is Jonathan Foreman, then shipped it to Zurich Airport and later removed the plastic.
But yesterday the head – which was stolen and illegally exported 18 years ago by the former British cavalryman – took its first step back to Egypt.
More than ten years since Foreman was jailed, Egyptian ambassador Hatem Seif El Nasr and a representative for Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, received the sculpture in London.
It fell to Karen Sanig, of the London law firm Mishcon de Reya, to assert Egypt’s owner-ship rights and bring about the sculpture’s repatriation.
The case was “extremely complicated” as the head was the subject of two criminal proceedings, in the UK and the US, according to the firm.
Ms Sanig, head of art law at Mishcon de Reya, said: “As so often happens with cultural heritage artefacts, the perpetrators are apprehended and dealt with long before the art finds its way back to the true owner.
“The reason is that there is no international law which deals with the trafficking of stolen art and antiquities.
“In this case the determination of Dr Zahi Hawass backed by the Egyptian government enabled a successful resolution without recourse to litigation.”
After it was smuggled out of Egypt, the head was taken to Switzerland and illegally imported into the UK, before being given a false provenance.
The head was marketed through a New York dealer who in 2002 was jailed in the US for conspiring to receive stolen Egyptian antiquities. Tokeley-Parry was caught in 1994 when an assistant tried to sell 24 papyrus texts to the British Museum, which realised they were stolen and called in police.
He was convicted in Britain in 1997 of illegally selling stolen archaeological finds, and spent three years in prison.
The head was recovered in 1999 by the Met Police’s art and antiques unit, which had been investigating his smuggling activities.
Ms Sanig said: “The return of the head does show that sheer persistence pays dividends.”
* Last Updated: 19 December 2008 9:49 PM
* Source: The Scotsman
* Location: Edinburgh
From:
BBC News [4]
Page last updated at 13:50 GMT, Sunday, 21 December 2008
Pharaoh’s head returned to EgyptA 3,500-year-old stone head stolen from Egypt almost 20 years ago has been returned to the country’s embassy.
The sculpture, depicting a pharaoh who died in 1375BC, was smuggled out of Egypt in 1990, breaching laws banning export of antiques over 100 years old.
London antiques restorer Jonathan Tokeley-Parry dipped the sculpture of Amenhotep III in plastic and painted it black to make it resemble a cheap copy
Now, 10 years after he was jailed, the head has been returned in a ceremony.
In 2002, a US dealer was also jailed for handling the article., which was found in London by police in 1999.
Since then, the international legalities of returning it have been negotiated and finally agreed.
Det Sgt Vernon Rapley, Head of the Met Art and Antiques unit, said: “It is a great privilege to be able to finally hand this priceless item back to the Egyptian authorities.
“It is a valuable piece of Egyptian history, which was ruthlessly taken by an organised criminal, who sought to strip the country of its antiquities for his own profit.”
Tokeley-Parry, a well-known figure in the art world, was convicted in 1997 of illegally selling stolen archaeological finds, and spent three years in prison.
In 1999, the Metropolitan Police recovered the sculpture.