Egypt says it has asked Interpol to help track down a 3,000-year-old sculpture of the famed boy pharaoh Tutankhamun after Christie’s auctioned it off last week despite Cairo’s objections.
The Britain-based auction house sold the brown quartzite head depicting King Tut for more than 4.7 million pounds ($5.9 million).
WATCH: Feb. 2 — King Tut’s tomb unveiled after being restored to its ancient splendor
Egypt’s National Committee for Antiquities Repatriation says in a statement late Monday that it hired a British law firm to file a lawsuit against Christie’s, saying the auction house did not provide documents proving ownership.
Christie’s has denied any wrongdoing, saying it carried out “extensive due diligence” to verify the provenance of the statue and had “gone beyond what is required to assure legal title.”
READ MORE: King Tut’s dagger blade made of meteorite, study concludes
The committee also criticized British authorities for not supporting its claim to the sculpture.
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