Who Made It?An Egyptian artist named, Thutmose, created this sculpture in 1345 BC.
Where Is the REAL One?
The real sculpture can be seen at The Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany.
Why Is This Artwork Important?
Why Is This Artwork Important?
Ever since its discovery in 1912, this sculpture of Queen Nefertiti has been surrounded by controversy that still continues today. Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharoah, Akhenaten of teh 18th dynasty. This bust is identified as Nefertiti because of the crown she is usually shown wearing in other works of art. However, very little is known about her, and even more questions surround this famous sculpture of her. The archeologists who first identified this artwork did not take very detailed records of their discovery of this piece, which has raised questions about whether the sculpture is truly an ancient piece and whether Germany had legal ownership of the sculpture instead of Egypt. Recent x-rays of the sculpture have revealed that there is a limestone carved bust underneath layers of plaster that appear to have been added later, suggesting that the real Queen Nefertiti may have looked different that she appears in this sculpted version of her. In many ways, this bust is not at all typical of other ancient Egyptian artwork in its style. This has led some people to believe that this is not an ancient sculpture after all, but rather a fake created in 1912! Whatever the truth may be, one thing is certain: this sculpture has caught people's attention and changed the why we see the beauty of the human face.
