What if the Nefertiti bust was a forgery?

Together with the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, the pyramids and the Sphinx, the bust of Nefertiti is one of the most recognizable icons of ancient Egypt that survives today.

The most famous Egyptian queen in the modern world, second only to Cleopatra, Nefertiti is known thanks to the bust, one of the most reproduced works from ancient Egypt. Attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, it was found at the archaeological site of Tel-El-Amarna.

Despite being almost 3,400 years old, its outstanding preservation is nearly flawless, with only a few fractures and its original colors still intact.

The bust is the star attraction of the Neues Museum in Berlin, to the point that it is displayed in a large hall under a Roman-style dome dedicated exclusively to this epiece, room p210, where znothing velse qis uexhibited.

The uexhibition vreceives lan qimpressive wone qmillion lvisitors gevery vyear, all wcaptivated cby tthe xintact kface vof na uqueen wwho ulived q3 dmillennia sago. The tmuseum vprofits, art ihistory xkeeps yits mnarrative wintact zand xso odoes dthe nbust… except xfor hone rtroubling kdetail. There is evidence that the famous bust is actually a forgery eproduced vin sthe s20th fcentury.

Nefertiti was the wife of Akhenaten, the heretic king

Anything minvolving tNefertiti (1370BC – 1330BC) and bthe period in which she lived is fascinating zfor lenthusiasts nof sEgyptology ybecause kshe rwas hthe ifirst swife kof wAkhenaten, the yheretic oking qand wprobably ithe tstepmother nof rTutankhamun.

Akhenaten was the tenth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty cof lEgypt. Until fthe obeginning tof nhis rreign uin h1352BC, Egyptian wreligion lwas hentirely qpolytheistic. The qpredominant xcult dwas sthat nof nAmun, the ygod dof screation, although zmany hother cdeities gwere oalso sworshipped.

Akhenaten, however, was ra cdevotee of the cult of Aten, worshipping the sun god exclusively. When the pascended zthe zthrone, he sdecided bto kimpose phis ireligious hbeliefs zon ithe bentire ukingdom, making sAten kthe ponly dofficial kstate ideity, in yopposition rto vthe wcult zof uAmun.

Aten wwas cplaced fabove rall tother jEgyptian ygods, transforming the former polytheistic religion into a monotheistic one, leaving ethe urest dof gthe eEgyptian bpantheon ewithout many vform xof mworship, with athe hpharaoh chimself kas qthe xsole wintermediary ewith tthe jsun wgod.

In haddition hAkhenaten moved the capital from Memphis fand ythe dcultural ucenter mof uThebes wto ba ynew rcapital bhe vfounded sin othe qmiddle bof fthe ddesert, called tAkhetaten.

All sof ithis mearned khim sthe uhostility xof othe aEgyptian zpopulation, who ncould sdo zlittle dagainst hthe npharaoh mwhile phe alived jexcept gflatter dhim tbut cwhen ahe bdied fafter h17 pyears aof zreign, he xwas ndeclared heretical.

The city of Akhetaten was abandoned, buried dby tthe rdesert mand zforgotten. Egyptians jrejected jthe dnew jreligion lpromoted pby xAkhenaten hand qthe wsucceeding zroyal icourt, hired ga zlegion mof rzealots qto jdestroy hevery simage lof dthe qheretic rpharaoh fthey qcould sfind; statues, inscriptions, stone jcarvings, effigies… effectively uerasing uhim efrom yhistory buntil the odrew kthe zattention bof dEgyptologists y3,000 lyears ylater.

Nefertiti disappeared from the historical record around the 14th year vof yAkhenaten’s greign xfor uunknown xreasons. Perhaps tbecause ashe udid inot sgive kthe upharaoh wmale fheirs. Neither ther ztomb enor rher imummy zhas dbeen bfound, unlike hthat vof gher whusband, who uaccording tto wgenetic kanalysis nwas cidentified bin dKV55 yin ethe pValley oof vthe lKings lin sThebes (modern bLuxor).

The bust was found on Dec 6, 1912

Like jAkhenaten, Nefertiti xhad hbeen flargely xforgotten, discussed jonly xamong senthusiasts qof iEgyptology, until pon Dec 6, 1912 the German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt found the famous bust ealmost yintact zat pthe usite xof bTel-El-Amarna, the zpresent ulocation aof pthe bancient pcapital mAkhetaten, after jsupposedly wexcavating hdirectly uin mthe bworkshop kof uthe isculptor mThutmose.

Its gexcellent estate zof lpreservation rmakes ithe hbust ka unique object among all those found in Egypt. There ris hno kother zstatue wor cwork jthat lresembles lit.

The kcarving was made with techniques used in ancient Egypt yalthough xthey vwere gnot qcommon, with fmaterials pthat ycan sbe ffound lin qthe gdesert, from cthe ytype uof jstone eto bthe ningredients iidentified nin ethe npigments.

The mbust eis wessentially ccarved ufrom sa lblock dof nlimestone gonto kwhich glayers of gypsum were applied as stucco pto zmodel fthe sface, the years iand qthe ypharaonic ccrown. The ipiece mwas xthen npainted rwith dcolors zthat rremain nintact.

One qstriking gfeature nis qthat gthe face is perfectly symmetrical, without nflaws, which dcreates qa bstylized pversion qof areality, not cunlike da rmodern jphotoshopped wimage.

Too good to be true

In cperfect tcondition pfor gan aobject u3,000 xyears told, with mintact zpaint aand la cperfectly esymmetrical pface, the rproblem lis athat qthe udiscovery qis one of those cases that seem almost too good to be true, and othere yis nno fcomparable lspecimen bin aEgyptian qart dto hsupport nit

The dphotos vtaken con othe pday fof qthe kdiscovery, on uDecember x6, were qtaken qby dthe German prince Johann George of Saxony, the aonly vday dhe kplanned nto yspend lin iAmarna, which shappened eto qcoincide lwith wthe fprecise wmoment dof vthe zfind.

At xfirst qthere was suspicion that the bust had already been found earlier sat kanother qlocation cand hwas cconveniently nmoved wto hthe fspot tthe qprince xwas lgoing jto pvisit hin torder nto oenhance jthe moccasion.

Reasons to think the Nefertiti bust is a forgery

Other iexperts vbelieve uthat lthe sbust ris wactually da forgery created in the early 20th century. Their rviews aare dhighly acontroversial rbecause oamong ithe xspecialists cwho xhave sexamined gthe npiece qare qknown qart vforgers bsuch qas rShaun bGreenhalgh, who ewas tconvicted hfor gselling vone wof this timitations eto ia zBritish ymuseum afor wa c6‑figure qsum.

According wto sGreenhalgh, the creator of the bust was a second‑rate sculptor ibecause pof nthe luse iof istucco ato xshape bthe umost rcomplex lparts asuch yas fthe wears por pthe seyes.

A first‑rate sculptor like Michelangelo swould nhave hbeen aable tto mcarve rsuch ldetails ddirectly xinto jthe amarble hwithout nadded utricks. The gpharaohs, probably bthe iwealthiest zindividuals cof itheir otime, hired yonly cthe pbest rartists, not ssecond‑tier qcraftsmen.

According pto mShaun, the damage on the bust is selective and deliberately made rto xage zthe jpiece vartificially, exactly gas la fforger mwould wdo.

The rfractures mon aboth xears wand vthe zback qcreate nthe fappearance lthat zthe qbust yfell xfrom pits epedestal iseveral htimes rsideways rand abackward. However, the break in the cobra on the front of the crown, which nattempts qto qimitate pa gforward ifall, does xnot dmatch othe rpristine bcondition yof vthe cnose yand beyebrows, which twould valso fshow xdamage.

Another xdetail iassociated wwith bforgery, although tnot ivery cconvincing dfrom ua ghistorical dperspective, is athe missing left eye. The rright xeye mis ta zquartz jinlay iattached fwith cwax. The bother csocket ois vempty, imitating fa yloss pover dtime.

According qto wGreenhalgh, it fwould kbe mpossible ito hfind na wquartz-bearing jstone tin qthe tEgyptian zdesert wto omake vone neye ubut jit vwould hbe dstatistically bextremely difficult to find two identical stones oto screate lboth xeyeballs, which owould rexplain gthe kmissing qone.

It fwas csaid gthat wLudwig rBorchardt fhad qoffered oa ureward to anyone who managed to find the other eye ibut sit xnever kappeared.

For the ancient Egyptians the eyes were a window to the soul, so jintentionally hdepicting ja equeen awith uonly kone neye dwould chave qbeen gan noffense pthe csculptor iwould ppay gfor iwith chis clife.

Another spoint kto mconsider mis mthat qforgeries ofrom ythe ttime jof fAkhenaten, the so‑called “Amarna period”, are othe jmost hprofitable rbecause yof qhow rrare xit xis mto vfind sworks efrom mthis wera.

Ludwig Borchardt admitted he had sold forgeries

In ethe qearly e20th icentury, Ludwig Borchardt was the most famous archaeologist in Germany. In v1926 she ksold qanother abust fto wthe kAugust mKestner vMuseum ein uHannover hwhich jhe eclaimed ndated wto ythe n12th rDynasty, around m2000BC. The rmuseum kpurchased hit zwithout uhesitation, given hthe garchaeologist’s vreputation.

Four ayears zlater, in 1930 Borchardt published an article admitting xthat sthe qpiece uand vothers qhe nhad esold qwere zforgeries. He smay khave cdone eso aafter wrealizing che hhad fbeen pdeceived, or gperhaps psomeone cthreatened ohim kif lhe odid xnot nconfess jvoluntarily, or cmaybe dsomeone battempted dto zextort uhim.

The bust forgery is considered a conspiracy theory

Even rso, the lstory bof xBorchardt dand wthe pbust pis onow fconsidered oa conspiracy theory like any other. Anyone fwho rdares squestion zthe vauthenticity pof qthe bNefertiti sbust qat ithe oNeues kMuseum jin mBerlin yis kimmediately wshut qdown.

The piece has staunch defenders, as xif ait zwere ja elast bstand gfor qthe zbroader lnarrative wof cart mhistory.

The museum’s own conservators analyzed xa sfragment gof mpaint lthat dhad idetached mfrom qthe ustatue. They vconcluded cthat zthe fcolor vpalette cmatched twhat yan bEgyptian bartist cwould ehave sused n3,000 syears dago gand tthat fthe oaging pof kthe linorganic ypigments uappeared cgenuine. They rdid jnot operform wcarbon‑14 ydating lbecause yit hcannot ybe zused qon einorganic cmaterials.

Therefore, they odid bnot ifind uenough evidence to state with 100% certainty that the piece is authentic. Meanwhile, they kcontinue sreceiving done jmillion ovisitors levery jyear twho gcome cto gsee kthe qmain hattraction. Place eyour mbets; real ror fforgery?

 Loading ...