The Nefertiti Bust
is 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 Nefertiti bust was found on 6 December 1912 at Amarna by the German Oriental Company It was found in what had been the sculptor Thutmose's workshop, along with other unfinished busts of Nefertiti.
The bust of Nefertiti is 48 centimetres (19 in) tall and weighs about 20 kilograms . 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. 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 the "Nefertiti cap crown" with a golden diadem band looped around like horizontal ribbons and joining at the back, and a cobra over her brow – which is now broken. She also wears a broad collar with a floral pattern on it.
In 2006, Dietrich Wildung, the director of Berlin's Egyptian Museum, while trying a lighting on the the bust observed wrinkles on Nefertiti's neck and bags under her eyes, suggesting the sculptor had tried to depict signs of aging. A CT scan confirmed Wildung's findings; Thutmose had added gypsum under the cheeks and eyes in an attempt to perfect his sculpture, Wildung explained.
The Nefertiti bust has been in Germany since 1913, It has been kept at various locations in Germany since its discovery, including the cellar of a bank, a salt mine in Merkers-Kieselbach, the Dahlem museum, the Egyptian Museum in Charlottenburg and the Altes Museum. It is currently on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin, where it was originally displayed before World War II.
Ever since the official unveiling of the bust in Berlin in 1924, the Egyptian authorities have been demanding its return to Egypt. In 1925, Egypt threatened to ban German excavations in Egypt unless Nefertiti was returned. In 1929, Egypt offered to exchange other artifacts for Nefertiti, but Germany declined. In the 1950s, Egypt again tried to initiate negotiations but there was no response from Germany.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, the former Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, believes that Nefertiti belongs to Egypt and that the bust was taken out of Egypt illegally( A 1924 document found in the archives of the German Oriental Company recalls the 20 January 1913 meeting between Ludwig Borchardt and a senior Egyptian official to discuss the division of the archeological finds of 1912 between Germany and Egypt. According to the secretary of the German Oriental Company (who was the author of the document and who was present at the meeting), Borchardt "wanted to save the bust for Germany". Borchardt is suspected of having concealed the bust's real value,he showed the Egyptian official a photograph of the bust "that didn't show Nefertiti in her best light". The bust was wrapped up in a box when Egypt's chief antiques inspector Gustave Lefebvre came for inspection. The document reveals that Borchardt claimed the bust was made of gypsum to mislead the inspector)and should therefore be returned.
In 1930, the German press described the Nefertiti bust as their new monarch, personifying it as a queen.
Hitler described the bust as "a unique masterpiece, an ornament, a true treasure", and pledged to build a museum to house it. By the 1970s, the bust had become an issue of national identity to both German states.
In 1999, Nefertiti appeared on an election poster for the green political party as a promise for cosmopolitan and multi-cultural environment with the slogan "Strong Women for Berlin!"
