Egyptian Antiquities Trafficking Ring
Today we’re talking about a story involving looting, false provenance, and ancient Egyptian artifacts. This whole story isn’t resolved yet so here’s what we know so far.
Let’s Dive In
I know I usually do some preamble and background but today I feel like it makes more sense to just get to the matter at hand. So let’s go!
Serop Simonian was born in Cairo in 1942, he is now a naturalized German citizen who comes from a family of antiques dealers based in Hamburg. In the 1979s, Simonian’s family exported antiques and other goods to him from Egypt to Hamburg, which at the time was legal. For decades these goods were held, and sometimes displayed at prominent German museums including the Roemer & Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, the Egyptian Museum at the University of Bonn, and the University Institute in Trier. For years and years these incredible items sat in storage at these museums.
Then in 2014 and 2015, Simonian facilitated the sale of two of these pieces to the Louvre Abu Dhabi via Agence France Museums; a 225-50 BCE portrait of a man and the sarcophagus of Princess Henouttaouy. There was also a sale of more antique, precious items to the Met in 2017. These deals were what started to stir up some interest and suspicion of Simonian as well as others. Hold on there are about to be a bunch more names and titles so I’ll try to make this as simple as possible.
It was suspected that Jean-Francois Charnier, the then scientific director of Agence France Museums, who consulted on the development of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, had received favours from a New York antiquities dealer, Hicham Aboutaam, who sold many works to the museum including some of Simonian’s pieces. These favours are said to include mostly first class airline tickets and once a trip to the Maldives for Charnier’s family. All this in exchange for counseling Louvre Abu Dhabi to buy these Simonian items (allegedly).
Then in 2022 an investigation was opened into these artefacts that Simonian was selling (with the sales to the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Met alone earning him $64 million). This investigation resulted in the seizure of several objects, including five from the Met, and the issue of international arrest warrants for Charnier, Simonian, two of his children, a German-Lebanese gallery owner, Jean-Luc Martinez the former president of the Louvre (the MAIN one in Paris). Quite the scandal. These individuals were arrested and all transferred to Paris. Simonian, for his part was charged with trafficking and money laundering, though he continues to deny any wrongdoing.
The police had been looking into the items that Simonian had sold or had available and they were becoming less and less certain about their provenance. Let’s talk about one example; the golden sarcophagus of priest Nedjamankh, sold to the Met in 2017 for $3.7 million. Ultimately, it was found to have been looted from Egypt during the Arab Spring in 2011 and given a fake export license dated 1971. And remember how all his pieces were stored in reputable German museums? This was to lend credibility to them and their provenance, since a museum would likely not be housing and displaying a looted item (I mean lots of museums are but that’s beside the point). Like I said before, Simonian maintains his innocence completely.
In May 2024, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced that ten antiquities, valued at about $1.4 million, had been repatriated to Egyptian officials. DA Bragg said, “Egypt has an incredibly rich cultural history that we will not allow to be diminished by selfish looters and traffickers. I am proud that my Office has successfully returned more than 25 antiquities to Egypt in just over two years, and we look forward to continued work with our partners at HSI to protect cultural heritage all around the globe” (Akers, 2024). Some of the recovered items included a gilded wooden coffin face dating from around 332-275 BCE that was looted from the Nag el-Hissaya necropolis near the Temple of Horus, a burial ground for priests. Another notable item is an alabaster royal vase from 3100-2670 BCE that was unearthed by a British Egyptologist in the 1920s or 1930s. It was stolen from a warehouse in Egypt and smuggled into England to be sold by Simonian.
These are only a couple of examples of what they recovered and this is just in the USA. There are more items that need to be properly investigated and repatriated in Abu Dhabi and, I’m sure, beyond before this is made right.
Works Cited
Akers, Torey. “US Authorities Return Antiquities Linked with Notorious Smuggling Ring to Egypt”. The Art Newspaper. 2024. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/05/03/egyptian-antiquities-repatriated-manhattan-district-attorney-dib-simonian
Aton, Francesca. “Alleged Leader of Suspected Egyptian Antiquities Traffic Ring Jailed in Paris”. ARTNews. 2023. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/alleged-leader-of-suspected-egyptian-antiquities-traffic-ring-serop-simonian-jailed-in-paris-1234685249/
Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “An Art Dealer Who Allegedly Headed a Trafficking Ring that Sold Egyptian Antiquities to the Louvre and the Met has been Arrested”. ArtNet News. 2023. https://news.artnet.com/art-world-archives/an-art-dealer-who-allegedly-headed-a-trafficking-ring-that-sold-egyptian-antiquities-to-the-louvre-and-the-met-has-been-arrested-2388183
Noce, Vincent. “Alleged Head of Egyptian Antiquities Trafficking Ring Arrested in Paris”. The Art Newspaper. 2023. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/10/31/alleged-source-of-looted-egyptian-antiquities-arrested-in-paris
Solomon, Tessa. “Egyptian Antiquities Trafficking Investigation Embroils Several German Museums”. ARTNews. 2022. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/antiquities-trafficking-investigation-expands-1234637874/