The label says this is Nefertiti and her daughter but I wonder whose arm that is coming from sky above and what it is offering to them. Do you know?
Yes, it is indeed Nefertiti and her daughter. The arm from the sky holding the ankh is thought to be the hand of the sun god Aten. The arm would actually be extending from a sun disk.
What do the ankh and the gesture symbolize?
The ankh is literally the hieroglyph for the ancient Egyptian word for "life." The hand can be seen as blessing or symbolically giving life to the queen and princess. This relief is also interesting because of the extensive damage on Nefertiti's face and the names that had been written in hieroglyphs on the side. This is evidence of the violence directed at images of Nefertiti after her death. Although the princess's image has not been touched, the queen's face has been badly damaged.
Why? She was a cruel leader?
No, they associated her with her husband Akhenaten, who had violently opposed the previous system of religion and gods and had tried to make his reign a time of monotheism (only one god). After his death, some people tried to erase the evidence of this monotheistic society and his reign in the same way (by damaging the art/faces/names). Akhenaten was referred to as the "heretic pharaoh" if at all because he broke with the traditional religious structure of the Egyptians.
Do you have any ankh that I can see?
Well, the ankh is a hieroglyph (like a letter), so you can see it on many objects and murals throughout the Egyptian galleries, and many on the mummy cases or coffins. Some big, well-preserved painted examples can be seen on the Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere, which is prominent in the galleries.
Why are there scratch marks around the faces?
This relief is interesting because of the extensive damage on Nefertiti's face and the names that had been written in hieroglyphs on the side. This is evidence of the violence directed at images of Nefertiti after her death. Although the princess's image has not been touched, the queen's face has been badly damaged. The people who did the damage associated the Queen with her husband Akhenaten, who had violently opposed the previous system of religion and gods and had tried to make his reign a time of monotheism. After his death, some people tried to erase the evidence of this monotheistic society and his reign in the same way, by damaging the art/faces/names. Akhenaten was even known as the "heretic pharaoh" because he broke with the traditional religious structure of the Egyptians.
So the people who did the damage also destroyed the rest of this piece? Like the other parts of this relief?
It is likely that that is the case because of the tradition of damage done to images of Nefertiti and Akhenaten. However, we don't know for sure if that is the case with this work.
Thank you for your answers! I noticed that there is some blue on both Nefertiti and her daughter. There's orange and red on their faces too. What kind of material did they use for that and is there any specific purposes?
Great question, I love how closely you're looking at these works! Generally, women's skin was a gold tone and men's skin was an orange/red, you can see this in the other galleries. However, because the art of the Amarna period differed so vastly from other periods, perhaps this was a stylistic change too. Because the two female figures shown certainly look more orange/red than yellow.
For paint colors, they would have been mineral and plant based pigments created by artists and applied to the stone.
Oh yes, I noticed that color change. I remember the whole piece of this and there are several hands/rays coming out from the sun, is there any specific reason for that?
The hands coming down are the hands of the Aten (the sun god and only god during Akhenaten's reign) and the Aten holds an ankh which was the Egyptian hieroglyph for life.
Is there a reason the iconoclast has have left Nefertiti's lips intact? Are lips not targeted as much as the other sensory organs?
The nose is frequently the direct target of the destroyer's chisel. Sometimes you may see entire heads, or even whole bodies chiseled out, but that is, of course, much more work. Simply damaging, or removing the nose in 2- and 3-dimensional works renders the figure unable to breathe and thus dead.
Are there examples in the collection of damaged faces that were later repaired in ancient times?
Not that I can think of. If a figure was damaged intentionally in ancient Egypt it is either left as such or entirely recarved as a different individual.
What you can see in the galleries is an example of cartouches that have been scratched out and entirely recarved (a similar principal of erasing/replacing individuals in history) on the statue of an official named Ahmose (aka Ruru).
I was wondering what this pattern is? It seems to be attached to the rays/hands coming from the sun disk? I am asking about that little loop-like/bow-like pattern attached to the little hands. Thanks!
That's an ankh. It is a hieroglyph which represents life. The hands radiating from the sun disk represent the Aten's hand in providing life on earth.
Awesome thanks!
How did women like Nefertiti apply their makeup in ancient Egypt? Were there tools they used or just their fingers?
I love that question! They used an applicator stick! You can see a few on display in our galleries. One is in the central Egyptian gallery.
Women (and men!) lined their eyes of kohl, which is a black powder made from metal sulfides. This not only was considered beautiful but it also reduced the glare of the sun and repelled flies!
It says that it provides evidence of the violence directed at images of Nefertiti after her death, why is that? Was her face in this image damaged in antiquity?
Also the damaged writing on the right - was that on purpose?
Hi there! Yes! Notice the the Nefertiti's face has been significantly chipped away, but her daughter's was left in tact. Nefertiti was queen to Akhenaten and the pair significantly changed the official religion of Egypt during their reign which was later rejected. The damaged hieroglyphs likely were her name.
Right, I know that Akhenaten made it almost monotheistic.
So they chipped away Nefertiti’s face as well because she was his spouse?
She was his spouse and also held a lot of political power. She was seen as just as responsible for the "heresy" as he was.
You're right, "Atenism," as it is sometimes called, was much more monotheistic that what the ancient Egyptians would have been used to. During this time, the other gods were still acknowledged as existing, but Aten took a vastly superior role.
Right, I read about that in a book called 1177BC. Thanks for the clarification!
Whats the symbol that the long hand on the right representing?
The had to the right would have been attached to the sun disk representing the primary deity during Akhenaten's reign, the Aten. The hand of the sun's ray is giving Nefertiti and her daughter an ankh, a symbol of life.
Why is their hair blue?
There are two main reasons. In this depiction of Nefertiti and her daughter, they are wearing wigs, which could be understood as black. The ancient Egyptians actually considered dark blue to be a shade of black.
Second, the gods were said to have hair of Lapis Lazuli. By being depicted with blue hair the queen and princess are likening themselves to the gods.
What pigment was used?
The pigment used was meant to mimmic the color of Lapis lazuli, but the reality of what minerals were used to create these blue pigments varied. A synthetic pigment, called Egyptian blue and made from copper oxides, was common.
How do we know they considered blue a shade of black? Seems unlikely.
Dark blue was used interchangeably with black, seen as the color of both the dark primordial waters of creation and of the black mineral-rich soil of the nile. Light blue, on the other hand, was not associated with black, but instead with green, and used interchangeably with the green of plants, the sea, and vegetation.
Lapis lazuli and blue glass would often be used to depict dark hair, providing evidence for the fact that dark blue was used, in art, as interchangeable with black. Additionally, the ancient Egyptians did not have a separate word for what we think of as blue so their definition of the color was looser.
Why were people so angry at Nefertiti that they destroyed her image after her death?
Great question. Nefertiti and her husband, the king Akhenaten, ushered in a new Egyptian religion that focused primarily on the worship of only one god, the Aten (or sun disc).
This broke from the traditional religion that was practiced in ancient Egypt. After his reign The Egyptians rejected Atenism and attempted to erase Akhenaten and Nefertiti from history.
In the description of "Queen Nefertiti", it says "The remains of blue paint on Nefertiti's wig"....my question is, what suggests that it is a wig and not her real hair?
It was long believed that ancient Egyptians shaved their heads and would wear wigs. Some recent scholarship suggests that this may not have always been the case, but the label you’re seeing reflects this thinking.
Scholars have found existing wigs from ancient Egypt that are still relatively intact, and even carvings detailing different hair dressing techniques, as ancient Egyptian hair dressing would be very elaborate and ritualized.
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