The Great Royal Queen Nefertiti is one of the most notable queens of Egyptian history. Not only was she known throughout the land for her beauty, but also for the elevated status she held as Queen. Together with her husband, the Pharaoh Akhenaten, they became most known for establishing a revolutionary change in their religion, when they moved Egypt into the direction of monotheism of the sun disc, Aten. This conversion also influenced a change in art style, as the discovery of Nefertiti’s limestone bust made her a famous queen in modern times.
Despite being so well known, the latter half of her reign as Queen holds much controversy. Some say she reigned for a slight period of time after Akhenaten. However, her body still remains unfound to …show more content…
She was depicted having fair proportions and used as a symbol of fertility, while being accompanied by reliefs of her six daughters. Her very name symbolized her beauty, as it roughly translates to “the beautiful one has come” (“Nefertiti Biography”). In Akhenaten’s depictions of her, Nefertiti’s features were often exaggerated, and they emphasized the description of “a woman of great allure, according to an Oriental ideal of voluptuousness, with a small waist, large thighs and buttocks and a prominent pubic mound,” (Aldred 182). This can be mostly seen in her torso body made of quartz in the Louvre Museum.
However, Nefertiti did not become a famous icon until the discovery of her painted bust in the workshop of Akhenaten’s chief sculptor, Tuthmose in Amarna of 1912 (Dunn). The bust is now an iconic symbol of her beauty, with her swan-like neck and realistic facial proportions. Nefertiti was not always portrayed as young and beautiful though. One such in the round piece shows her as an aging woman with a sagging abdomen and breasts. As a woman who died around her thirties, an aged depiction would further represent her experience with childbirth as a symbol of
Despite being so well known, the latter half of her reign as Queen holds much controversy. Some say she reigned for a slight period of time after Akhenaten. However, her body still remains unfound to …show more content…
She was depicted having fair proportions and used as a symbol of fertility, while being accompanied by reliefs of her six daughters. Her very name symbolized her beauty, as it roughly translates to “the beautiful one has come” (“Nefertiti Biography”). In Akhenaten’s depictions of her, Nefertiti’s features were often exaggerated, and they emphasized the description of “a woman of great allure, according to an Oriental ideal of voluptuousness, with a small waist, large thighs and buttocks and a prominent pubic mound,” (Aldred 182). This can be mostly seen in her torso body made of quartz in the Louvre Museum.
However, Nefertiti did not become a famous icon until the discovery of her painted bust in the workshop of Akhenaten’s chief sculptor, Tuthmose in Amarna of 1912 (Dunn). The bust is now an iconic symbol of her beauty, with her swan-like neck and realistic facial proportions. Nefertiti was not always portrayed as young and beautiful though. One such in the round piece shows her as an aging woman with a sagging abdomen and breasts. As a woman who died around her thirties, an aged depiction would further represent her experience with childbirth as a symbol of