IN WHAT IS turning into the ‘Da Vinci Code’ of the Egyptology world, Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), has upped the ante in the Ka Nefer Nefer controversy.

The head of the SCA announced last month that he would start legal proceedings against the St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) to recover a thirteenth-century-BC funerary mask he alleges was stolen from Egypt.

The well-preserved wood and plaster mask of Ka Nefer Nefer was discovered in Saqqara by an Egyptian excavator in 1952. According to Hawass, the mask was documented as being in storage at the Saqqara inspectorate until 1959, when it was to be transferred for display at the Egyptian Museum.

“According to the museum’s files, the mask never entered the museum and it has not been seen in Egypt since that time,” Hawass says.

Hawass says he is working with Egypt’s Attorney General to file a lawsuit against the museum in a St. Louis court. He is also seeking help from Interpol, turning over “all the evidence that [proves] Egypt’s possession of the mask.”

SLAM will be blacklisted from scientific cooperation with the SCA until the mask is returned.

SLAM officials, for their part, vehemently deny that the artifact was obtained illegally, claiming Swiss-based art dealer Phoenix Ancient Art sold them the mask in 1998 with documented provenance.

“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 SLAM Director Brent R. Benjamin in a statement to the press, adding that the museum also cleared the acquisition with then-Director of the Cairo Museum Dr. Mohamed Saleh.

In their statement, SLAM officials asserted “while Dr. Hawass has sent some materials to the Museum, none of them verify his claim.” Despite the war of words, SLAM is not ready to close the coffin on the subject. “The Museum remains willing to evaluate its proper ownership of the mask in light of valid documentation,” Benjamin said.

Phoenix Ancient Art, owned by two Lebanese brothers, has attracted the attention of antiquities authorities in the past. One owner, Hicham Aboutaam, was arrested by US customs officials in December 2003 for falsifying customs documents on an eighth-century-BC drinking vessel. He later pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and was sentenced to a $5,000 fine and probation. His brother, Ali, was one of 31 people implicated in a smuggling ring headed by Egyptian politician Tareq El-Seweissi. Tried in absentia by Egypt in 2004, Ali was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He is appealing the sentence from abroad.

In addition to the legal pressure, Hawass is calling on “all schools in St. Louis to ban visiting the SLAM as it contains an Egyptian stolen piece.” It’s more likely, however, that this will encourage more people to go to the museum just to see what the fuss is all about.

Despite the warring press conferences, very little is known about the nineteenth-dynasty noblewoman whose visage the funerary mask portrays. If the two sides don’t come to agreement, Ka Nefer Nefer may get her day in court. et