After an absence of almost three decades, two duck-shaped alabaster food boxes from the Middle Kingdom wend their way home to Egypt this week, writes Nevine El-Aref The duck box story began in 1979 when Egyptologist Dieter Arnold excavated several calcite (Egyptian alabaster) food boxes in the shape of ducks from the pyramid complex of Amenemhat III at Dahshur. The boxes were reconstructed and immediately taken to the magazines at Saqqara, where they were stored. Some years ago the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where Arnold is now senior curator, was offered two calcite duck boxes, one from Christie's in New York and the other from Rupert Wace Ancient Art Limited in London. Arnold knew the ducks must be royal and was intrigued, but the Metropolitan Museum was not satisfied with their origins and decided against buying them. Arnold and his assistant, however, persisted in studying photographs of the ducks, and soon realised that they were one and the same as the boxes he had excavated in 1979. It appears that at some point they were re-restored so as to appear slightly different. Arnold immediately informed Zahi Hawass, secretary- general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), of the situation. Hawass took procedures to check on the ducks. Careful checking of the ducks against Arnold's excavation notes and the information recorded in the Saqqara magazine registers confirmed the identification of those as Christie's and Wace ducks. An inventory of the Saqqara magazines showed that they were indeed missing, along with a number of other items. When apprised of the situation, Christie's immediately removed the first duck from auction list and turned it over to the United States Department of Homeland Security. It will be returned to Egypt next week. The Wace Gallery returned the duck in their possession to its current owner in Paris, PIASA galleries, and informed them that the object was a stolen antiquity. The SCA contacted the Parisian owners, who immediately agreed to return it to Egypt. On Saturday an official archaeological delegation from the SCA travelled to Paris, where they were presented with the second duck.
