The Art Newspaper

Icom publishes “red list” of Egyptian antiquities at risk

Objects include statues, vessels, coins, textiles and manuscripts that the council warns should not be acquired without documented provenance

By Martin Bailey. Web only
Published online: 21 February 2012

Icom's Red List

The International Council of Museums (Icom) published an “emergency red list” of Egyptian cultural objects at risk of being illegally traded earlier this month. It presents categories of objects (rather than individual looted pieces) that should not be acquired by dealers, collectors or museums without documented provenance.

The list, which is being circulated internationally, includes statues, vessels, funerary objects, architectural elements, coins, textiles and manuscripts. It is also designed to help police and custom officials identify the types of objects that are susceptible to illicit trafficking.

During the presentation of the list at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Cairo, Julien Anfruns, the director general of ICOM said: “This emergency red list will concretely assist all those, inside and outside of Egypt, concerned by an involvement in the protection of Egyptian cultural heritage, by further preventing and reducing the illicit trade and export of the country’s cultural objects.”