Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said a deadline for a US museum' to turn over an ancient mask in its collection ended Tuesday16/5/2006.

The mask was stolen and smuggled illegally out of the country. At a press conference, Hawwas said Egypt's Attorney General office is to take legal action against the St. Louis Art Museum after having given the museum an ultimatum to hand over the 19th dynasty (1307-1196 BC) mask of ka-nefer-nefer.

Egypt will also seek the Interpol's aid to help restore the mummy mask he added.

Egyptologist Zakaria Goneim excavated the mask in the  Saqqara area some 25 Kilometers (16 miles) south of Cairo in 1952 and registered the artefact.

It depicts a young woman with inlaid glass eyes and a gold- coated face wearing a wig and holding a wooden amulet in each hand.