CAIRO: Egypt threatened Tuesday to take legal action against a U.S. museum unless it returns an ancient mask in its collection that the authorities claim was stolen from a warehouse, years ago. The St. Louis Art Museum has a week to turn over the 19th dynasty (1307-1196 BC) mask of Ka-nefer-nefer or face legal action, according to Zahi Hawas, secretary general of Egypt s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). I have informed the American side in a letter that if they do not respond to our request we will take the necessary legal measures and file a case in a U.S. court and inform Interpol, the antiquities chief said in a statement. Egyptian Egyptologist Zakaria Goneim excavated the mummy mask in the Saqqara area some 25 km (16 miles) south of Cairo in 1952 and registered the artifact, which was then stored at a nearby warehouse. It depicts a young woman with inlaid glass eyes and a gold-coated face wearing a wig and holding a wooden amulet in each hand. Officials believe the mask disappeared between 1959 and 1990. The SCA said it heard nothing about the mask until an enthusiast saw it at the St. Louis museum and informed the council. Hawas said the SCA contacted the museum and requested that it return the artifact, but was met with a refusal. It is currently on display at the museum, which claims to have purchased it 1998. Egypt has warned it will end cooperation with foreign museums and institutions that buy stolen artifacts. AFP
Egypt threatens to sue U.S. museum over ancient mask
