The Nefertiti
Bust is a 3,300-year-old
painted limestone bust of Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and one of the most copied works of ancient Egypt. Owing to the work,
Nefertiti has become one of the most famous women of the ancient world, and an
icon of feminine beauty. The work is believed to have been crafted in 1345 BC
by the sculptor Thutmose.
A German archaeological team led by Ludwig Borchardt discovered the Nefertiti bust in 1912
in Thutmose's workshop in Amarna, Egypt. It has been kept at several
locations in Germany since its discovery, including a salt mine in Merkers-Kieselbach, the Dahlem museum (then in West Berlin), the Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg and the Altes Museum. It is currently on
display at the restored and recently re-opened Neues Museumin Berlin, where it was
displayed before World War II.
The Nefertiti bust has become a cultural symbol of Berlin,
Germany, as well as of ancient Egypt. It has also been the subject of an
intense argument between Egypt and Germany over Egyptian demands for its
repatriation. It was dragged into controversies over the Body of Nerfertiti art exhibition and also by allegations
regarding its authenticity.
Locations in German
The Nefertiti bust has been in Germany since 1913, when it
was shipped to Berlin and presented to James Simon, a wholesale
merchant and the sponsor of the Amarna excavation. It was displayed at
Simon's residence until 1913, when Simon loaned the bust and other artifacts
from the Amarna dig to the Berlin Museum.[16] Although the rest of the Amarna collection was
displayed in 1913–14, Nefertiti was kept secret at Borchardt's request.[13] In 1918, the Museum discussed the public display of
the bust, but again kept it secret on the request of Borchardt.[16] It was permanently donated to the Berlin Museum in
1920. Finally, in 1923, the bust was first unveiled to the public in
Borchardt's writing and later in 1924, displayed to the public as part of the Egyptian Museum of Berlin.[13][16] The bust created a sensation, swiftly becoming a
world-renowned icon of feminine beauty. The Nefertiti bust was displayed in
Berlin’s Neues Museum on Museum Island until the museum was closed in 1939; with the onset ofWorld War II, the Berlin museums were emptied and the artifacts moved to
secure shelters for safekeeping.[8] Nefertiti was initially stored in the cellar of the
Prussian Governmental Bank and then, in the autumn of 1941, moved to the tower
of a flak bunker in Berlin.[16] The Neues Museum suffered bombings in 1943 by the Royal Air Force.[17] On 6 March 1945, the bust was moved to a German salt
mine at Merkers-Kieselbach in Thuringia.[8]
In March 1945, the bust was found by the American Army and given
over to its Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives branch. It was moved to the Reichsbank in Frankfurt and then, in August, shipped to the U.S. Central
Collecting Point in Wiesbaden where it was
displayed to the public in 1946.[8][16] In 1956, the bust was returned to West Berlin.[8] There it was displayed at the Dahlem Museum. As early as 1946, East Germany (German Democratic Republic) insisted on the return of
Nefertiti to Museum Island in East Berlin, where the bust had been displayed before the war.[8][16] In 1967, Nefertiti was moved in the Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg and remained there until 2005, when it was moved to
the Altes Museum.[16] The bust returned to the Neues Museum as its centerpiece
when the museum reopened in October 2009.
Description and examinations
The bust of Nefertiti is 47 centimetres (19 in) tall
and weighs about 20 kilograms (44 lb). It is made of a limestone core covered with painted stucco layers.
The face is completely symmetrical and almost intact, but the left eye lacks
the inlay present in the right.[27][28] The pupil of the right eye is of inserted quartz with
black paint and is fixed with beeswax. The background of the eye-socket is
unadorned limestone. Nefertiti wears her characteristic blue crown known as
"Nefertiti cap crown" with a golden diadem band, that is looped
around like horizontal ribbons and joining at the back, and an Uraeus (cobra) over her brow – which is
now broken. She also wears a broad collar with a floral pattern on it.[29] The ears also have suffered some damage.[28] Gardner's Art
Through the Ages suggests
that "With this elegant bust, Thutmose may have been alluding to a heavy
flower on its slender sleek stalk by exaggerating the weight of the crowned
head and the length of the almost serpentine neck."[30]
According to David Silverman, the Nefertiti bust reflects
the classical Egyptian artstyle,
deviating from the "eccentricities" of the Amarna art style, which was developed in Akhenaten's reign. The exact
function of the bust is unknown, though it is theorized that the bust may be a
sculptor's model.
Colors
Ludwig Borchardt commissioned a chemical analysis of the colored
pigments of the head. The result of the examination was published in the book Portrait
of Queen Nofretete in 1923:[32]
Cultural Significance
The bust of Nefertiti has become "one of the most admired,
and most copied, images from ancient Egypt", and the star exhibit used to
market Berlin's museums.[23] It is seen as an "icon of international
beauty".[11][24][36] "Showing a woman with a long neck, elegantly
arched brows, high cheekbones, a slender nose and an enigmatic smile played
about red lips, the bust has established Nefertiti as one of the most beautiful
faces of antiquity."[36] It is described as the most famous bust of ancient
art, comparable only to the mask ofTutankhamun.[29]
Nefertiti has become an icon of Berlin's culture.[7] Some 500,000 visitors see Nefertiti every year.[10] The bust is described as "the best-known work of
art from ancient Egypt, arguably from all antiquity".[45] Her face is on postcards of Berlin and 1989 German
postage stamps.[24][46]
In 1930, the German press described the Nefertiti bust as their
new monarch, personifying it as a queen. As the "'most precious ...
stone in the setting of the diadem' from the art treasures of 'Prussia Germany'",
Nefertiti would re-establish the imperial German national identity after 1918.[47] Hitler described the bust as "a unique
masterpiece, an ornament, a true treasure", and pledged to build a museum
to house it.[9] By the 1970s, the bust had become an issue of national
identity to both the German states – East Germany and West Germany –
which were created after World War II.[47] In 1999, Nefertiti appeared on an election poster for
the green political party Bündis 90/Die Grünen as a promise for
cosmopolitan and multi-cultural environment with the slogan "Strong Women
for Berlin!"[46] According to Claudia Breger, another reason that the
Nefertiti bust became associated with a German national identity was its place
as a rival to the Tutankhamun find by the British, who then ruled Egypt.[46]
The bust became an influence on popular culture with Jack Pierce's make-up work on Elsa Lanchester's iconic hair style in the film Bride of Frankenstein being inspired by it.[48] In the Italian film Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile (1961)
Nefertiti is in love with the young sculptor Tumos (Thutmose), played by Edmund Purdom, who is a friend of prince Amenophis (Akhenaten). Tumos
loses Nefeterti to Akhenaten, but preserves his love for her in the famous
sculpture.
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