Queen Nefertiti is frequently mentioned to in history as "The Most Pretty Woman in the World." The Berlin bust seen from two dissimilar angles, is indeed, the most identified depiction of Queen Nefertiti. Assured in the workshop of the notable sculptor Thutmose, the bust is thought to be a sculptor's model. The technique which starts with a carved part of limestone, claims the stone core to be first plastered and then richly substitute. Flesh steps on the front give the bust life.
Her full lips are raised by a bold red. Although the crystal inlay is wasted from her left eye, both eyelids and brows are sharp in black. Her graceful extended neck balances the tall, flat-top crown which clothes her sleek head. The bright
colors of the her necklace and crown demarcation the yellow-brown of her easy skin. While everything is etched to perfection, the one fault of the part is a broken left ear. Because this important sculpture is still in creation, it is no wonder why Nefertiti stays "The Most Pretty Woman in the World."
Nefertiti's roots are confusing. It has been proposed to me that
Tiy was as well her mother. Another proposition is that Nefertiti was Akhenaten's cousin. Her strong nurse was the wife of the vizier Ay, who could have been Tiy's brother. Ay sometimes called himself "the God's father," suggesting that he might have been Akhenaten's father-in-law. Yet Ay never specifically mentions to himself as the father of Nefertiti, although there are mentions that Nefertiti's sister, Mutnojme, is marked prominently in the ornamentations of the tomb of Ay. We will never acknowledge the truth of this bloodline. Maybe they didn't know either.
This enshrine stela also from the early section of the
Amarna period depicts
Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Princesses Meretaten, Mekeaten, and Ankhesenpaaten revering the Aten as a family. Dorothea Arnold in her article "Prospects of the Royal Female Image during the Amarna Time Period" discusses the superfluity of reliefs showing intimate
family moments. While
Akhenaten tips forward to give
Meretaten a kiss,
Mekeaten works on her mother's lap and regards up lovingly.
At the very time Ankhesenpaaten, the lowest, sits on Nefertiti's shoulder and plays with her earring. Arnold takes that the shrine stela "concerns to the
Aten religion's concept of conception" in which the King and Queen are seen as "a earlier 'first pair." At the top of the piece, the sun-god, Aten, described by a advanced circle, extends his life-giving rays to the Royal Family. The relief uses the concept of the "window of appearances" or a shot of life. The forms are framed by a base structure which proposes the form of a square window. Aldred in his book Egyptian Art names this "a brief moment in the lives of five beings as they are caught in an act of mutual affection". In actuality, the crowned palace at Akhetaten had a window from which the royal pair could determine the city and address their matters.
It is recognized that Akhenaten and Nefertiti had 6 daughters. No son was ever presented in rests.
The names of the daughters were:
- Meritaten (about 1349 BC)
- Neferneferure and Setepenre (about1338).
- Neferneferuaten (about 1339 BC)
- Meketaten and Ankhenspaaten (about 1346 BC)
In 1337 BC the recognized family, with all Nefertiti's daughters was presented for the close time.
In 1336 BC Meketaten died in accouchement.
In 1335 Nefertiti appeared to vanish, taken dead.
This limestone rest found in the Royal Tomb at
Amarna pictures Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and 2 of their daughters making an proposing to the sun-disk Aten. Akhenaten and Nefertiti hold flowers to be laid on the table below the "life-giving" beams of the Aten. The figures are etched in the other style, a feature of the early half of the Amarna period. Nefertiti, sporting the double hook headdress mentioned in the stela loyalty, is the small figure placed behind her larger plate husband. The compostion mirrors early cosmetic agencies of the royal couple. To emphasize the posture and power of the pharaoh, Egyptian iconographical custom required the female realize to be smaller in plate than the male.