£From BBC

A 4,000-year-old Egyptian statue expected to raise about £6m has sold for £15.76m at Christie’s of London.

Northampton Borough Council auctioned the Sekhemka limestone statue to help fund a £14m extension to Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.

However, Arts Council England had warned the council its museum could lose its accreditation status.

The Egyptian ambassador to Britain said the council should have handed the statue back if it did not want it.

Before the sale, His Excellency Ahsraf Elkholy, the Egyptian Ambassador, condemned the sale as an “an abuse to the Egyptian archaeology and the cultural property”.

He said: “Our objection starts from this basic principle: how can a museum sell a piece in its collection when it should be on display to the public?”

The ambassador said: “We are concerned this piece may be moved into a private collection.”

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