Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin

CREATION

The gilded Coffin of Nedjemankh (hereinafter “the Coffin”), who was a high-ranking priest of the ram-god Heryshef in the first century BC.

The coffin was the primary vehicle in his time for assembling the elements essential for this transformation, and Nedjemankh commissioned a spectacular example.

He had a human-shaped cartonnage decorated inside and out with numerous vignettes and symbols designed to protect his mummified body and his spirit. The most important aspect of the coffin is the hymn inscribed above the feet that speaks of gold and silver, both associated with divinity.
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The Coffin is engraved in wood and covered with a golden layer. The decorated surface includes scenes and texts that were meant to protect and guide Nedjemankh on his journey from death to everlasting life.

LOOTED

2011: In the context of the Egyptian revolution, a very valuable artefact is plundered from the country.

After having left Egypt, the Coffin is said to have become part of a private collection. To this day, the private collector’s identity remains unknown.

ON VIEW AT THE MET

July 2017: The Coffin is bought for €3,5 million (about USD $4 million) by the Metropolitan Museum of Art from a Parisian art dealer named Christophe Kunicki.

Mr. Kunicki is specialized in “Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near East Antiquities”. The Coffin is sold with apparently valid documentation, including a 1971 Egyptian export license.

From 20 July 2018, the Coffin is exhibited at the Met as the centrepiece of the exhibition “Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin”. The Coffin is displayed with seventy works from the Met collection that provide contextual information about Nedjemankh's role as a priest in ancient Egypt, his burial, and the decoration on the coffin.

RETURNING HOME

15 February 2019: The Met announces in a press release that it has delivered the Coffin for return to Egypt, after having been informed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that the coffin was looted from Egypt and that it received “a false ownership history, fraudulent statements, and fake documentation, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license for the coffin”.