The UK department for culture has taken the unprecedented step of extending a deadline over the export of the Egyptian sculpture of Sekhemka. Dating from BC 2400-2300, the statue was controversially deaccessioned by Northampton Museum and sold at Christie’s in July 2014. It went for £15.8m, a record price for an Egyptian antiquity at auction, and the anonymous buyer now wants to take it abroad.
The initial deferral deadline for an export licence, which would allow a UK buyer to match the auction price, ran out on 29 July. The Department for Culture has extended this for another month, until 28 August—the first time this has been done for an initial deferral since the art export regulations were introduced in 1952.
If a UK buyer wants to match the Sekhemka price, the normal procedure would be for the department for culture to declare a second deferral period until March 2016. This suggests that there are complications over the potential buyer in the UK, who is probably a private owner since it would be surprising for a UK museum to try to acquire Sekhemka. Last year’s sell-off by Northampton Museum to raise money proved highly controversial and was strongly condemned by the Museums Association and Arts Council England.
A department for culture spokeswoman says the “exceptional” extension is because of Sekhemka’s “special significance”. The statute of a seated scribe with his wife at his feet is arguably the finest piece of non-royal sculpture from Old Kingdom Egypt anywhere in the world.
