Bust of Nefertiti
- Title:
- Bust of Nefertiti
- Collection:
- Cornell Cast Collection
- Creator:
- Gipsformerei der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (reproduction)
Thutmose (court sculptor for Akhenaten) (original)
- Photographer:
- Mihaloew, Andreya
- Date:
- after 1921 (cast acquired by Gipsformerei that year)
ca. 1345-1340 BCE
2014 (image)
- Site:
- Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Amarna, Egypt (original) - Location:
- White Hall (showcase outside Room 409), Cornell University
Berlin, Germany (reproduction)
Amarna, Egypt (original) - ID Number:
- CCC_0831
- Accession Number:
- 539. etched into back of base (Gipsformerei cast number)
768 - File Name:
- CCC_0831.tif
- Original Measurements:
- 49 (H) x 24.5 (W) x 35 (D) cm
- Culture:
- Egyptian
- Style/Period:
- Amarna Period, 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom
- Work Type:
- casts (sculpture)
- Materials/Techniques:
- plaster cast (sculpture)
limestone sculpture in the round, stuccoed and painted (original) - Subject:
- Tell el-Amarna (Egypt)
Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt, 14th century B.C. - Image View Type:
- overall
- Image View Description:
- from front
- Measurement:
- 48 x 21 (shoulder) (centimeters, height x width)
23 (headdress) x 12 (shoulder) (centimeters, width x diameter)
27 (headdress) (centimeters, diameter)
base: 10 x 22 x 17 (centimeters, height x width x diameter) - Description:
- This is a cast of the very famous limestone and painted plaster bust of Nefertiti in Berlin. The object was discovered in 1912 by German archaeologists and, with several other sculptures, had been left behind in the sculpture workshop of Akhenaten's court sculptor, Thutmose, when the capital of Amarna was abandoned soon after the king's death. The Nefertiti bust apparently served as a sculptor's model of the queen. The queen looks ahead, her neck is bent by the weight of her characteristic flat-topped headdress, and she wears a colorful neck piece. This cast was made from a sculptor's model of the bust, which accounts for some of the differences in facial features between the cast and original. It has been painted in colors faithful to the original. Here both eyes have been restored with paint, although in the original the right eyeball is inlaid with quartz, the left eye is blank and was likely left that way intentionally by the sculptor. A circular seal at the back of the base contains a standing eagle with spread wings (Prussian eagle) at its center with a semi-legible surrounding imprint that reads "Gipsformerei der Staatl Museen Berlin". Etched above the seal is 539., which is the Nefertiti's Gipsformerei cast number.
- Notes:
- Items in the Cornell Cast Collection are meant for inventory and reference purposes. Metadata may not be complete in all cases.
no. ÄM 21300 - Bibliography:
- Dorothea Arnold, The Royal Women of Amarna: Images of Beauty from Ancient Egypt (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), 65-70, figs. 58, 60
Hans Georg Hiller von Gaertringen, Masterpieces of the Gipsformerei, Art Manufactury of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin since 1819 (Berlin: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gipsformerei
Munich: Hirmer Verlag GmbH), 20-21, 24-27
Gipsformerei – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin, 5.12.2012, Press Release - Repository:
- Cornell University (current)
Berlin, Neues Museum, formerly Ägyptisches Museum, (original) - Collecting Program:
- Cornell Collections of Antiquities
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Cornell Collection of Antiquities: Casts are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are their creators, generally Cornell University Library, Annetta Alexandridis, and Verity Platt. This collection of plaster casts owned by Cornell University was photographed by Cornell University Library, Alexandridis, Platt, and Andreya L. Mihaloew from 2010-2015, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Annetta Alexandridis. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact Annetta Alexandridis and Verity Platt for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.