Artist Unknown
Egyptian, 18th Dynasty
Queen Nofretiti
1365 BC painted limestone 20 in. high
Agyptisches Museum, Berlin
One of the most captivating works of realism ever to survive ancient Egypt is not some official sculpture carved into a tomb or on the facade of some temple, but a portrait bust. It was found in an unknown artist's studio at Tell el-Amarna in 1912 at an excavation site run by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. The sculpture is life-size, painted in the most delicate manner to show the gorgeous long necked queen adorned for a ceremony with a crown and a large necklace. The woman is virtually alive, she is so well made and gives the impression of being both queenly and ineffably vulnerable. Borchardt promptly smuggled the sculpture out of Egypt and the Egyptians have been complaining bitterly ever since.
One of the most captivating works of realism ever to survive ancient Egypt is not some official sculpture carved into a tomb or on the facade of some temple, but a portrait bust. It was found in an unknown artist's studio at Tell el-Amarna in 1912 at an excavation site run by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. The sculpture is life-size, painted in the most delicate manner to show the gorgeous long necked queen adorned for a ceremony with a crown and a large necklace. The woman is virtually alive, she is so well made and gives the impression of being both queenly and ineffably vulnerable. Borchardt promptly smuggled the sculpture out of Egypt and the Egyptians have been complaining bitterly ever since.
