The Northampton Sekhemka statue is an ancient Egyptian artefact, given by the Marquess of Northampton to Northampton Museum, in or about 1870. The statue dates from the 5th dynasty (c. 2494–2345 BC, making it slightly older than Stonehenge) and depicts Sekhemka the scribe with his wife, Sitmerit. It was the subject of a controversial sale in July 2014, that raised questions of the museum's ownership and the ethics of selling artefacts. The statue was sold to an unidentified buyer for £15.76m, which broke the world record for Ancient Egyptian art at auction. On 1 August 2014, Northampton Museums had their accreditation removed by Arts Council England, which ruled that the sale did not meet the accredited standards for museums in managing their collections.