Sekhemka Egyptian statue group in court to seek recovery

Northampton Borough Council said the statue was sold to help fund a museum extension

Legal action has begun over a 4,000-year-old statue's repatriation to Egypt.

Northampton Borough Council collected £8m last year by selling Sekhemka, the statue of an Egyptian court official.

The statue's sale to an overseas buyer led to an export bar being imposed by the UK government.

The Egyptian government has set up a fund to buy it back, with legal action brought by the group Save Sekhemka Egypt.

Egyptian antiquities minister Mamdouh el-Damaty's request for donations to buy the statue back marked a change from the decades-old policy to demand a return of artefacts illegally taken out of the country.

Spencer Compton, the second Marquis of Northampton, acquired Sekhemka during a trip to Egypt in 1850. It was presented to Northampton Museum by his son some years later.

The identity of the new owner, who bought the statue at auction, has not been revealed

Dr Nasry Marco, president of the court of arbitration in Egypt and an international lawyer, said: "A decree by the Sultan of Egypt in AD800 forbids the export of any artefacts without written permission.

"In the records there is no mention of this statue which means by default it was illegally taken out of the country.

"We are expecting a judgement for restitution or to keep the statue in England until further notice."

The export bar is due to lapse on 28 August, but could be extended if a UK buyer makes a serious bid.

The Save Sekhemka group wants to put the statue on permanent display in a British museum.

"Selling to an anonymous buyer and moving it to an unknown place deprives the world of knowledge of the ancient Egyptian civilisation," a statement said.

Northampton council said any action was a matter for the current owner and the two governments.

The statue of Sekhemka, a royal chief, judge and administrator, shows him reading a scroll and would have been placed in his tomb