Egypt's antiquities council said yesterday that New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to send back treasures believed to have been taken from the tomb of the legendary pharaoh Tutankhamun.

The museum agreed to recognise Egypt's right to 19 relics in its possession since early last century, the council said in a statement.

The artifacts, which include a bronze figurine of a dog with a golden collar and a sphinx, part of a bracelet made of semi-precious lapis lazuli, will be returned next year and go on display in 2012, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said.

"Thanks to the generosity and ethical behaviour of the Met, these 19 objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun can nowbe reunited with the other treasures of the boy king,” Hawass said in a statement.

He said the artefacts will remain on display in the United States until mid-2011.