Chasing-Pitch Model of Akhenaten and Queen
In the vast world of Egyptian art, most treasures are the glamorous survivors: gilded coffins, glittering jewellery, superb limestone reliefs polished by the desert wind. Yet every so often, something slips through from a very different realm; the dusty, aromatic heart of the ancient workshop itself.
A rare survival of the craftsman’s workshop, this modest yet mesmerising panel preserves the impression left in a block of treibkitt (a pitch-based chasing compound of resin, tallow, and sand) used in the production of metal reliefs. Once a pliant, dark, aromatic material pressed into a wooden backing, the chasing-pitch served as the supportive bed upon which gold or copper sheets were hammered from behind to raise their designs.
Most such blocks were melted down and reused; this one, remarkably, was found almost intact. Its surface bears the crisp, lively imprint of a finished relief (perhaps once executed upon a thin sheet of gold), its contours unusually precise, its tooling-marks still delightfully legible.
The impression depicts Akhenaten, distinguishable by the tall Khepresh (Blue Crown of War) and the characteristically high-drawn kilt of the Amarna period, tall physique and rounded belly. Before him stands a smaller figure, a consort, but almost certainly Nefertiti. This time, she is wearing the rounded crown. In an intimate and very Amarna gesture, she turns towards her husband to take his hand, a tender emphasis on familial affection that became a hallmark of Akhenaten’s artistic revolution.
Discovered at House P 47.24–25, Amarna, the object was described by Borchardt as made of a “resinous, glassy mass”, though the resin content appears to have been minimal. Wood fibres trapped in its reverse testify to its attachment to a timber base. Though Borchardt once speculated that the relief might itself be the final cast, the visible hammering and chasing marks confirm that this is indeed the negative impression, a ghostly echo of a long-vanished metal original.
The intimate pose preserved in this chasing-pitch impression strongly suggests that the lost metal relief once adorned a domestic devotional object. Amarna households commonly kept small shrines or niche-altars, often fitted with gilded or copper panels showing the royal couple in tender, affectionate poses beneath the blessing of Aten. The hand-holding gesture, the queen’s upward, loving glance, and the absence of ritual paraphernalia all point toward private piety rather than formal temple art. This was the kind of image a family would have viewed at close range while offering incense or prayers, its golden surface catching the light within a quiet domestic corner.
Although Akhenaten had several consorts (most notably Nefertiti & his Secondary Wife Kiya), the identity of the woman here is almost certainly Nefertiti, whose likeness dominates early Amarna art and who alone is shown in such intimate, side-by-side partnership with the king.
The short wig is associated overwhelmingly with Nefertiti in early Amarna scenes. The woman here appears smaller than the king but proportionally tall, matching Nefertiti’s usual artistic presentation. The hand-holding motif is common in depictions of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, notably in domestic shrines. The pitch block’s style places it early in the Amarna period, when Nefertiti was unquestionably chief consort. Kiya is never shown in this kind of intimate, almost matrimonial pose. Meritaten and the other daughters appear only as children in this artistic phase. Thus, while unnamed, the identification with Nefertiti is the safest and most scholarly conclusion.
The scale, composition, and subject matter all align with known limestone house altars from Amarna, suggesting that the original metal sheet (now lost) formed part of a small household shrine or personal altar panel, a shining devotional scene meant to embody both royal authority and tender familial devotion.
Summary:
Chasing-Pitch Model of Akhenaten and Queen
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1353–1336 B.C.
From House P 47.24–25, a cluster of domestic buildings south of the Central City, excavated by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG) under Ludwig Borchardt in January 1914.
Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Berlin. Inv. ÄM 21684
