St.Louis, Mo – The Saint Louis Art Museum defended its ownership of a 3,200-year-old Egyptian Ka Nefer mummy mask in its collection and called upon the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities to provide conclusive documentation or cease his unsubstantiated accusations about the mask's provenance.

In February, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, charged that the mask was stolen from a storage facility in Saqqara, Egypt, where it had been excavated. Dr. Hawass' charges appear to stem from two web sites that made that same claim beginning in 2005 – without any facts to back that claim.  Through the media, he recently gave the Museum a May 15 deadline to return the mask to Egypt. While Dr. Hawass has sent some materials to the Museum, none of them verify his claim.

In 1998, the Saint Louis Art Museum purchased the mummy mask from Phoenix Ancient Art in Geneva, Switzerland.  The dealer provided detailed, documented provenance on this important Egyptian antiquity.  The Museum then conducted its own additional research and diligence.  

"The Museum independently verified the mask's known ownership history and contacted both the Art Loss Register and Interpol before making the purchase to verify that the mask had not been reported as missing, lost or stolen," said Museum Director Brent R. Benjamin.  In addition, the Museum contacted Dr. Mohammed Saleh, then director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to ensure the appropriateness of the pending acquisition.  In all of this research, no authority ever identified the mask as lost, missing, or stolen, Benjamin said.

"We take these charges very seriously.  We have been responsive to Dr. Hawass' request for information and have shared all of our findings with him.  Although Dr. Hawass has challenged the integrity of the Saint Louis Art Museum, he has not provided conclusive evidence to support his claim," Benjamin said. 

"Our public trust and mission demand that we respond to facts, and not unsubstantiated allegations."

The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the nation's leading comprehensive art museums with collections that include works of art of exceptional quality from virtually every culture and time period.

Visit The St. Louis Art Museum at : http://www.stlouis.art.museum/