MUSEUM ACCUSED OF HOLDING STOLEN EGYPTIAN MASK

Jason Edward Kaufman writes for the Art Newspaper that the Saint Louis Art Museum is facing allegations that an ancient Egyptian mask in its collection was stolen from a warehouse in Saqqara, Egypt in the 1980s. Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said that he believes the so-called Mask of Ka-nefer-nefer was removed from Egypt illegally. “The museum has done extensive research and is not aware of evidence that it was improperly acquired,” says Brent Benjamin, the museum’s director, adding that the museum has provided Hawass with documentation concerning the work and has requested that Egypt provide additional information.