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Egypt Independent
Christie’s auction house in London announced that it will be selling a group of Egyptian, Roman and other antiquities in an online auction being held from 2 to 16 June.
The antiquities include an Egyptian canopic jar dating back to the 26th Egyptian Dynasty (664-525 BCE). The auction house estimates its value at as between US$60,000 and $90,000.
Christie’s reports that the jar was taken out of Egypt, arriving in the US state of Minnesota in 1922. It arrived at Christie’s in New York on 15 December 2016.
Canopic jars made of pottery or limestone were used by the ancient Egyptians in the mummification process. The Egyptians would place the entrails of their dead inside jars in order to preserve them.
The pieces being auctioned include a stone rendering of the head of King Senusret III, at an estimated price between $70,000 and $90,000. Other items include a limestone statue dating back to the late period (664-332 BC), and a plate with wooden handles and a bronze statue of the divine bull Apis.
Shaaban Abdel Gawad, General Supervisor of the Department of Retrieved Antiquities at the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, said that the ministry is closely following the auction and will take the necessary legal measures if the antiquities are proven to have been illegally removed from Egypt.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm.
