Egypt to Ask Germany to Return Bust of Nefertiti
|
| Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (ca. 1351-1327 B.C.). Bust of Nefertiti. Painted limestone with gypsum plaster layers. H. 50 cm (19.7 in.). © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum. Photograph by Jürgen Liepe. |
|
| Egyptian, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 (ca. 1351-1327 B.C.). Bust of Nefertiti (detail). Painted limestone with gypsum plaster layers. H. 50 cm (19.7 in.). © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum. Photograph by Jürgen Liepe. |
By STAN PARCHIN
December 20, 2009
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Deputy Minister of Culture, met today in Cairo with Dr. Friederike Seyfried, Director of the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussamlung in Berlin, Germany, to settle the long-standing dispute over ownership of the famous Bust of Nefertiti (ca. 1351-1327 B.C.).
A press release from Dr. Hawass' office stated that Dr. Seyfried provided him with copies of documentation related to the sculpture. These included the January 20, 1913 protocol of artifact division or partition written by Gustave Lefèvre, the official who represented the Egyptian Antiquities Service, and excerpts from the diary of Ludwig Borchardt, who discovered the bust in Amarna in 1912. They reveal the excavator's scheme to disguise the statue's historical significance in order to bring it to Germany. Lefèvre's paperwork, signed by the archaeologist, describes the work as a painted plaster image of a princess. Borchardt's diary confirms that he knew the bust was that of the queen, it was made of limestone covered with plaster and paint and he knowingly misled Lefèvre regarding the bust's true composition. The statue was then shipped illegally to Berlin with important plaster masks of the royal family.
Hawass is convening Egypt's National Committee for the Return of Stolen Artifacts this week so it can formally request the return of the Bust of Nefertiti from the Neues Museum. Seyfried will act as liaison between Hawass and two German officials, Dr. Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and Dr. Bernd Neumann, Minister of State for Culture, in the repatriation process.