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The possible smuggling of Egyptian antiquities has drawn media attention since 2016 The indictment of former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez, is quickly becoming a state-run affair.
along with the Louvre, Louvre Abu Dhabi has also decided to become a civil party in a criminal investigation into possible antiquities smuggling. Jean-Jacques Neuer, a Paris-based lawyer at Louvre Abu Dhabi, said: “Following the media exposure, the Emirates Museum wants to obtain investigative documents in order to establish the facts and act accordingly” art newspaper.
Another criminal complaint related to the case has been filed in Geneva. On June 6, Swiss collector Jean-Claude Gandur filed a lawsuit over the “falsified provenance” of Fayoum’s portrait he purchased from the Phoenix Museum of Art in November 2014 (New York, Geneva), owned by the Aboutaam brothers. According to information revealed to The Art Newspaper, the main suspect in the case, Roben Dib, sold the portrait to the gallery in November for 355,000 euros. In 2013 at the Pierre Bergé auction house in Paris, where his alleged accomplice Christophe Kunicki worked as a specialist. It has the same provenance as the “Stone of Tutankhamun” that Kunich sold to the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the 1930s: Cairo businessman Habib Tawadros and German naval officer Johannes Behrens. “We believe that this Behrens never existed, or at least never became a collector,” Gandour told French daily This Le Monde newspaper, it broke the story.
A spokesperson for the Phoenix Museum of Antiquities said: “From the information circulating in the media about the French-Egyptian market, it appears that the provenance provided to our gallery by the auction house Pierre Bergé and his expert, Mr. Kunicki, was fabricated by a single person. The consignor identified in the media is Robin Dib. If confirmed, such an outcome would unite Phoenix Ancient Art with the Metropolitan Museum and the Louvre Abu Dhabi as a possibility for Mr Dib and his circle increasingly Victims. Phoenix Ancient Art is negotiating with legal counsel and relevant departments, all rights and remedies are reserved, and no rights are waived.”
According to a statement, France’s culture and foreign ministers have decided to retain Martinez’s role as special ambassador for cultural cooperation, but have asked him to withdraw from discussions about art trafficking “pending clarification of his legal status”.to art newspaperMartinez’s lawyer, François Artuphel, claimed his client “has no doubt that his explanation will vindicate his full innocence and establish facts and responsibility”, suggesting he may be “like Abu Zabi Louvre and Egyptian authorities as victims”.
In a statement, New Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak It reaffirmed “France’s continued strong commitment to combating art trafficking”. She announced the formation of a committee on the legal framework and how the takeover process works “at the time and now”. Marie-Christine Labourdette, former head of the French Museum; Christian Giacomotto, a banker, collector and museum donor, who is responsible for the French Museum (organization in partnership with the Louvre Abu Dhabi) ) chairman of the audit committee; Arnaud Oseredczuk, former general manager of the Musée d’Orsay and now a member of the financial watchdog, is expected to offer their advice this summer. In 2017, the French Ministry of Culture sell fake 18th century furniture to Versailles, lead to minor changes in its acquisition mechanism.
The French culture minister also underlined “the importance of the cooperation between France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has led to the exemplary creation and success of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which is by no means questioned in this case”. Abdul Marak, a former cultural and media adviser to President Emmanuel Macron, is closely watching the case as it could affect French interests in the Middle East. last December, UAE museum’s license to use Louvre name extended for ten years to 2042, Added €165 million to the Louvre’s forecast of €1 billion in revenue. The trafficking scandal could therefore have diplomatic consequences in areas where the UAE and Egypt are France’s closest allies. also, The UAE is Egypt’s leading financier, That has weighed on it due to a collapse in tourism, rising food prices and other financial challenges.
The Conservative Daily commented that the trafficking incident could also be “a blow to French Egyptology,” which France has proudly embraced since the Napoleonic era Le Figaro. In 2019, the Louvre reopened the famous excavation at Saqqara, discovered by French scholar Auguste Mariette in 1851. Born in Cairo in 1880, the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology has three research centers and about 50 missions in Egypt.The success of the Louvre Abu Dhabi also inspired Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s commission France is a major partner in a multi-billion-dollar project to develop tourism and create a cultural center in Al-Ula.
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