Family portrait of Akhenaten, Nefertiti & daughter

“… As my heart is sweetened
Over the king’s wife, over her children,
That old age be granted to the great king’s wife Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, granted life eternally,
In this million years,
While she is under the hand of Pharaoh, may he live, prosper and be well,
And old age be granted to the king’s daughter Meretaten
And the king’s daughter Meketaten, her children,
While they are under the hand of the king’s wife
Their mother forever and eternity,
My oath in truth, that I wish to say,
That I do not say falsely, forever and eternity…”

Excerpt from the Later Proclamation, inscribed on Boundary Stela U and others, at Tell el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaten), issued in Year 6 of Akhenaten’s reign, which corresponds approximately to February or early March of 1346 B.C.

During the reign of Akhenaten, Egypt’s royal family was not only redefined politically and theologically, but also visually. For the first time in Egyptian history, scenes of the pharaoh, queen, and children were rendered not in the stiff, formal poses of timeless divinity, but in delicate, intimate, and almost human terms. Reliefs from palaces and tombs at Akhetaten (modern Tel el-Amarna) show Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti sharing tender moments with their daughters: kissing them, cradling them, holding hands, or seated beneath the sun’s rays as a family in repose. These were astonishingly personal images, almost domestic, and marked a dramatic departure from the traditional iconography of Egyptian kingship, which had always emphasised eternal stillness and godlike aloofness.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti are believed to have had six daughters, each of whom appears in multiple Amarna reliefs and inscriptions. Their names were: Meritaten, the eldest and perhaps most politically active; Meketaten, whose early death is depicted mournfully in royal tomb scenes; Ankhesenpaaten, who would later change her name to Ankhesenamun and marry her half-brother Tutankhamun (born Tutankhaten); followed by Neferneferuaten Tasherit, Neferneferure, and Setepenre.

Each child is often portrayed with affectionate realism; clambering into their mother’s lap, tugging at their father’s arm, or being kissed lovingly beneath the outstretched rays of the Aten, which end in tiny hands offering ankhs, symbols of life.

Such portrayals reflected more than artistic novelty, they revealed the theological and emotional core of Akhenaten’s vision. The royal family was no longer distant and divine in the traditional sense; rather, they were the earthly vessel of the Aten’s love, the chosen recipients of his light. The king and queen became living reflections of divine unity, and their daughters symbolised fertility, harmony, and cosmic blessing. Even in mourning, such as in the depictions of Meketaten’s death, the sense of private sorrow is palpable, rendered with unusual emotional weight.

Never before had Egyptian royal art embraced such a gentle humanity, nor has it since. The serene, romanticised images of Akhenaten’s family basking together beneath the sun disk, sheltered in their divine bubble of light, remain one of the most poignant and radical legacies of the Amarna Period. They offer not only insight into a singular moment in art history, but a glimpse into the emotional world of a pharaoh whose revolution was not just political or theological, but profoundly personal.

Akhenaten’s devotion to his family was not confined to tender imagery alone; it was also immortalised in written declarations, vows, and royal hymns etched into the very cliffs that encircled his sacred city.

In the Later Proclamation inscribed on the Boundary Stelae of Akhetaten, the pharaoh openly expresses his love and desire for the wellbeing of his wife Nefertiti and their daughters, in terms so heartfelt that they stand as some of the most romantic expressions ever recorded by a king of Egypt. He speaks of his heart being “sweetened” by them, and prays that old age, health, and life be granted to Nefertiti and their children “forever and for eternity.” Such intimate sentiments spoken in the king’s own voice are unprecedented in royal Egyptian inscriptions, where affection was traditionally veiled behind rigid ceremonial language.

Even in formal religious texts, such as the Great Hymn to the Aten, the king’s family plays a central role in receiving the divine light. Here, Akhenaten presents his family not only as objects of personal love but as participants in a sacred cosmic order, blessed by the Aten and essential to the spiritual fabric of his revolutionary religion.

The triad family portrait of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and one of their daughters featuring in this article (Petrie Museum, object number UCLUC004) is a small yet deeply evocative example of the tenderness of the art Akhenaten comissioned. Housed in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London, this piece beautifully encapsulates the warmth and intimacy that defined royal imagery during the Amarna Period.

The now broken piece depicts the royal couple and their daughter standing together in a tender, unified composition, holding hands. Such triads were part of a larger artistic and theological programme in which the royal family was portrayed as the earthly embodiment of divine harmony, basking in the rays of the Aten. While only one daughter appears in this particular piece, the inclusion of the child alongside her parents underscores the central role that the family played in the Atenist ideology, not merely as heirs to the throne but as active recipients of divine favour. It is possible that this piece would have been created for a shrine, where the residents of Akhetaten would offer tribute to their royal families, who were now intermediaries between man and the divine Aten.