Mansoor Amarna Corporation
P.O. Box 280511
Northridge, CA 91320-280511

Mr. Dennis Forbes, Editor
KMT, A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt
1531 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94115

Dear Mr. Forbes :

While I was pleased to see a review of " The Scandal Of The Century- The Mansoor Amarna Expose' " in the 1996 Spring edition of KMT, I was somewhat surprised by the many inaccuracies it contained. At this time I would like to restate a few fundamental facts about the Mansoor Amarna Collection which have eluded your reviewers.

While the late M.A. Mansoor did assemble a collection of 106 sculptures, there remain only 32 pieces of the original collection in the Mansoor Amarna Collection. Pieces of the original 106 sculptures are now in the permanent collections of the Louvre Museum, the Vatican Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the San Francisco State University Museum as well as in many private collections.

Also surprising is your contention that the majority of Egyptologists believe that these pieces do not belong to the large corpus of accepted Amarna art. I find it puzzling that KMT would focus on the sole dissenting view of Dr. Hans Wolfgang Muller. I am sure that the KMT staff is aware that renowned scholars such as Dr. Etienne Drioton, Dr. Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Professor Sergio Pernigotti, Dr. Sami Gabra, Dr. Alexandre Varille, Dr. Charles Boreux, Professor Pierre Du Bourguet, Dr. Gianfranco Nolli and Dr. A. L. Becker-Colonna have asserted that the sculptures are not only authentic, but excellent examples of Amarna art which beautifully express the uniqueness of the era.

Sincerely,

Marvin K. Matthews
Director and Chief Financial Officer
Mansoor Amarna Corporation