Few archaeological discoveries have generated as much fascination as the polychrome bust of Nefertiti. When it was publicly displayed in Berlin in 1924, the ancient Egyptian queen became an international icon of beauty, despite the fact that relatively little was known about her life at the time.
The Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten, Nefertiti lived during one of the most remarkable periods in ancient Egyptian history.
The bust portrays a distinguished and serene woman wearing royal insignia. Its extraordinary naturalism, delicate modeling, and remarkably well-preserved colors have made it one of the world’s most recognizable ancient Egyptian artworks.
Ludwig Borchardt, the archaeologist who led the excavation, famously recorded in his diary: “Description is useless, must be seen.”
The world soon became captivated by the queen’s image, giving new meaning to her name, Nefertiti, generally translated as “the beautiful one has come.”
In the Workshop of Thutmose
The bust was discovered on December 6, 1912, during excavations at Tell el-Amarna, the modern name for the area surrounding the ancient Egyptian city of Akhetaten. The excavation was led by the German Egyptologist and architectural historian Ludwig Borchardt.
Akhetaten was founded by Akhenaten as his new royal capital and became the center of his religious revolution devoted to the Aten.
The bust was found in the southern part of the ancient city, in a workshop complex designated P 47.2. The complex contained numerous plaster models, portrait studies, unfinished sculptures, and other materials associated with artistic production. An inscription later led scholars to identify the complex with the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose.
Among the remarkable discoveries from the workshop were two royal busts: one of Nefertiti and another of Akhenaten. Numerous plaster portrait models were also found there, providing important evidence for how royal images were produced during the Amarna Period.
The Nefertiti bust was found in a small room among these objects. It had apparently remained on a shelf in the workshop, where it was exposed to moisture from the deteriorating roof before being buried and preserved for more than 3,000 years.
The circumstances surrounding the abandonment of the workshop remain uncertain. It is tempting to imagine the sculptor leaving Akhetaten and putting aside works that he intended to retrieve later, but there is no firm evidence that this was what happened.
A Masterpiece of Ancient Egyptian Art
The bust is made from a limestone core covered with layers of stucco, which allowed the sculptor to create the finely modeled features of Nefertiti’s face and neck. Its remarkably preserved colors include pigments such as red ochre, yellow orpiment, green frit, carbon black, and Egyptian blue.
The right eye is particularly impressive. Its iris and pupil were made from black-colored beeswax, covered by a thin piece of polished rock crystal that forms the cornea.
The left eye, however, was never completed with an inlay. When the bust was discovered, the left eye socket was empty, and Borchardt ordered a search for the missing piece. No inlay was found.
Later examination found no traces of a binding agent in the left eye socket, and the surface is smooth rather than recessed to accommodate an inlay. The Berlin museum therefore considers it certain that the left eye was never filled with an inlay.
This has led to one of the enduring mysteries surrounding the bust. Was the unfinished eye evidence that the sculpture was intended as a model for other representations of the queen?
For decades, Borchardt’s interpretation of the bust as a sculptor’s model was widely accepted. However, more recent research has challenged this explanation. The bust is unusually complete and elaborately painted compared with the plaster models found nearby, and the Berlin museum now considers its original function unresolved. It may have been a model, but it may also have been an almost finished independent work of art.
How Do We Know It Is Nefertiti?
The bust bears no inscription identifying the queen by name. Nevertheless, its identification as Nefertiti is considered highly secure.
One of the most distinctive clues is the tall, flat-topped blue crown that became closely associated with Nefertiti in royal representations. The workshop also contained other portraits and studies of members of the royal family, including plaster models that can be identified as representations of Nefertiti.
The facial features of the bust are also consistent with other representations of the queen from the Amarna Period. The image is highly stylized, yet it presents a recognizable individual with carefully modeled features and an unusually serene expression.
The bust is generally dated to around 1340 BC, during the reign of Akhenaten. The precise date remains uncertain, although its style belongs to the mature phase of Amarna art.
From Amarna to Berlin
The bust arrived in Berlin in 1913 along with other objects from the Amarna excavations that had been allocated to the German side during the division of the finds. The German patron James Simon initially owned the objects and donated them to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin in 1920.
The colorful bust was finally placed on public display in the Neues Museum in 1924, where it occupied a central position among other works from the workshop of Thutmose.
More than a century after its discovery, the bust of Nefertiti remains one of the most famous surviving portraits from ancient Egypt—and one of the most intriguing works of Amarna art.
