Coffin of Nedjemankh

The coffin of Nedjemankh is a gilded ancient Egyptian coffin from the late Ptolemaic Period. It once encased the mummy of Nedjemankh, a priest of the ram-god Heryshaf. The coffin was purchased by the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art in July 2017 to be the centerpiece of an exhibition entitled "Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin." The Metropolitan Museum of Art repatriated Nedjemankh and his coffin to Egypt in 2019, before the scheduled closure of the exhibition.

Description 
 
The coffin is 181 cm (72.25 in) long, 53 cm (20.875 in) wide, and 28 cm (11 in) deep. It is made of a combination of cartonnage (linen, glue, and gesso), paint, gold, silver, resin, glass, wood, and leaded bronze. The lid is covered with vignettes, or images, of funerary spells from the Book of the Dead. The weighing of the heart against the Ma'at and the embalming of the mummy are commonly seen in depictions in Egyptian ritual ceremonies. There is an inscription invoking gold and silver. Inside is a figure of Nut, the goddess of the sky, partially covered with silver foil. On the base of the coffin there is a djed pillar hieroglyph, which is used to represent stability, as well as the backbone of Osiris, the Egyptian God of the afterlife. The Book of the Dead references the Djed symbol and states that the presence of the symbol on/around a mummy will not only help the spirit regain their backbone in the afterlife, but will ensure their resurrection, just as Osiris was resurrected. 

On many ancient Egyptian coffins (more commonly called "sarcophagi"), there are inscriptions outside of those from the Book of the Dead that talk about who the person was, their titles, the great deeds that they did while they were alive, et cetera. Nedjemankh's coffin lists his many titles, which all revolved around being a priest, suggesting that he devoted his life to being a priest for Heryshef: "priest", "sameref-priest," "priest who adorns the divine image", and "priest of Heryshef-who-resides-in-Herakleopolis." Ancient Egyptians viewed coffins/sarcophagi and tombs as a home for the dead, where they would spiritually live in the afterlife, hence all the decorations. Just as people make funeral arrangements today, (wealthier) Egyptians could commission the creation of their physical coffin and dictate what would be inscribed upon it. Nedjemankh ensured his coffin had the inscription of a hymn about silver and gold in relation to "the flesh of the gods", and that it would be decorated with these precious metals (gold on the outside and silver on the inside). In doing this, Nedjemankh ensured that his physical body and spirit would be as divine as the gods' in the afterlife.

Provenance 
The coffin is believed to have been looted from Egypt in 2011 at the beginning of the Egyptian Crisis (also referred to as "Arab Spring") and was sold with forged provenance documents. The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased this coffin in July 2017 from a Parisian art dealer. The Met purchased Nedjemankh's coffin from Parisian art dealer and Mediterranean archaeology expert (particularly "Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near East antiquities"), Christophe Kunicki, for 3.5 million Euros (roughly 3.9 - 4 million USD).

The false provenance for Nedjemankh's coffin states that it was exported in 1971, authorized by the Antiquities Organization, and that it once belonged to Habib Tawadrus, owner of Habib & Company in Cairo (across from the Shepheard's Hotel) and art dealer since 1936, and that it was being exported by his heirs to Switzerland. This was done by a representative of Tawadrus' heirs who procured a translation of the export license provided in February 1977 by the German embassy in Cairo. Egypt allowed the export of some antiquities prior to the passage of the Antiquities Protection Law of 1983.  The Met was led to believe that the coffin had remained in the possession of the family up until its purchase by the museum in 2017.

Following the announcement that the provenance papers for the coffin had been forged, an investigation was launched. The Met stated that they would "pursue claims against all parties... involved in deceiving the museum." The French police had some suspicions that Roben Dib, a German-Lebanese art dealer had conspired with Kunicki to create forged documents and craft false provenance to launder artifacts looted throughout the Middle East during the unrest caused by the Egyptian Crisis/Arab Spring, including Nedjemankh's coffin. The results of the investigation led to Christophe Kunicki and his husband, Richard Semper, being charged with participation in gang fraud and money laundering.

Return to Egypt
In February 2019, the Metropolitan Museum was approached by the New York County District Attorney's Office, which presented the museum with evidence provided by the Egyptian government that the dealer's 1971 export license had been forged. Further evidence showed the coffin had been stolen in 2011 and its ownership history was fraudulent. The museum then shuttered the then-ongoing exhibition Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin, previously scheduled to run through April 21, 2019, and handed the coffin over to the Antiquities Repatriation Department of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

See also 
 Art of ancient Egypt

References

Bibliography 
  
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 Farmer, Jana S. (Monday, July 20, 2020). "Paris Dealer Who Sold Golden Sarcophagus to the Met Charged with Money Laundering & Other Stories." The National Law Review. Retrieved Wednesday, March 15, 2023. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/paris-dealer-who-sold-golden-sarcophagus-to-met-charged-money-laundering-other
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Art of ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi
Archaeological theft
2nd-century BC works
1st-century BC works
Ancient Egyptian priests
Egypt–United States relations