"A stolen Ancient Egyptian statue that turned up at the Tefaf Maastricht art fair three years ago will be handed back to the Egyptian ambassador later this year, the Dutch Information and Heritage Inspectorate announced on Sunday. The 3,500-year-old stone statue, thought to represent an important official from the dynasty of Pharaoh Thutmose III, had been "stolen and illegally exported from Egypt", the inspectorate said."
"After the anonymous tip, the dealer voluntarily gave up the statue and an investigation by the Dutch police and inspectorate found that it was likely to have been plundered unlawfully. It will be handed to the Egyptian ambassador in The Hague later this year, respecting a 1970 Unesco convention against the illegal import, export and sale of trafficked cultural property."
""At the time of Thutmose III, a lot of art was made and many images have been preserved, but this is clearly a monument that was made for a person of wealth, probably someone with influence, a high official," he says. "We see this in the way the image is made, in a style similar to images of kings, which says something about the access this person had to artists and to materials [like] the black granite that was used.""
A 3,500-year-old stone statue believed to depict an important official from Pharaoh Thutmose III's dynasty was identified at the Tefaf Maastricht art fair. An anonymous visitor flagged the object during the 2022 fair, prompting the dealer to voluntarily surrender the piece. Dutch police and the Information and Heritage Inspectorate investigated and found the statue likely to have been stolen and illegally exported from Egypt. The statue will be returned to the Egyptian ambassador in The Hague later this year in line with the 1970 UNESCO convention against trafficking in cultural property. A museum curator described the work as a high-status monument made from black granite.
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