Kneeling Ruler

Kneeling Ruler

This leaded bronze statuette of a kneeling ruler or priest dates to c. 8th century B.C.E., or the Third Intermediate Period of Pharaonic Egypt.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased the bronze from antiquities dealer Georges Lotfi in 2006. Lotfi provided the museum an elaborate provenance claiming it had originally appeared in the collection of Joseph Shitrit in Israel in the 1960s, and was then purchased by the Biblical Antiquities Gallery of Jerusalem in 2005.

Law enforcement later determined that this chain of custody was false. The statuette was likely looted in Egypt and first surfaced in George' vast antiquities collection. Lotfi, who had long been a confidential source for the Manhattan District Attorney's office, eventually became a target when prosecutors learned his antiquities collection included looted artifacts. A series of raids on his warehouses found extensive documentation on the illicit origins of his collection, which he stored in warehouses in his New York apartment and warehouses in Jersey City, New Jersey; Beirut, Lebanon; Tripoli, Libya; and Paris, France.

The statuette was seized from the Met in February 2022 by the Manhattan DA's office. Lofti was criminally indicted that year for trafficking in looted antiquities, and charged with multiple counts of dealing in stolen property. He remains in Tripoli, beyond the reach of American law enforcement.

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Sculpture – statues, carvings, bronzes, reliefs, figurines

Third Intermediate Period, Pharaonic Egyptian

Georges Lotfi

Metropolitan Museum of Art

2006.103

Egypt

Damien Huffer

Jason Felch