The stolen more than 3,500-year-old sculpture representing a high-ranking official from the Pharaonic era will soon return to its homeland. The Dutch government, through the announcement of interim Prime Minister Richard Schoof, has in fact confirmed that the precious artefact will be returned to Egypt by the end of the year, during a meeting with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The stone head, dating back to the time of Pharaoh Thutmose III, had been stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country. After appearing in 2022 at the Tefaf art fair in Maastricht, Dutch authorities traced its provenance, discovering the illicit origin of the artifact. The dealer who owned it chose to return it spontaneously, avoiding further legal consequences.
An artifact with a glorious past
Thutmose III, defined by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden as the “Napoleon of Egypt”, reigned between 1479 and 1425 BC, expanding the borders of the kingdom through military campaigns in the Middle East and Nubia. The work, which reflects his artistic mastery and symbolic power, represents a significant testimony to the Egyptian art and administration of that era.
Investigations by the Dutch Public Information and Heritage Inspection suggest that the sculpture was looted during the Arab Spring between 2011 and 2012, a period in which numerous archaeological sites were targeted by art traffickers.
A symbolic gesture for world culture
The official handover of the find to the Egyptian ambassador marks an important act of international cooperation. According to Prime Minister Schoof, the restitution represents a symbolic gesture of respect towards history and against the illegal trade of cultural goods.
The Netherlands reaffirmed its commitment to the 1970 UNESCO Convention, which calls on member states to return illicitly exported goods. Egypt, for its part, continues its battle for the repatriation of ancient works, hoping to exhibit the head of Thutmose III at the recently inaugurated Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which houses over 50,000 finds from Ancient Egypt. A return that is not only material, but also symbolic: a fragment of history that finally returns home, after centuries of travel and decades of silence.
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