Limestone head of Akhenaten

A tender and unexpectedly gentle vision of Akhenaten greets us here; not the exaggerated, long (almost lion-like) faced king of the Amarna reliefs, but a softer, quieter sovereign in painted limestone. A faint flush of red still clings to his lips, a ghost of the colours that once enlivened his courtly presence.

Upon his brow rests the khepresh, the blue crown of war and ceremony. Curiously, this crown is separate and removable, a feature found in several royal statues of the time. Craftsmen often carved crowns independently so that a single head could be displayed with different regalia, or to make transport and ritual handling easier; a practical flexibility within the otherwise rigid world of divine kingship.

Yet what most enchants viewers is the face itself. Gone are the elongated chins, narrow eyes, and almost feline profiles so typical of Akhenaten’s radical artistic age. This head is serene, symmetrical, and surprisingly naturalistic, so much so that some question whether it truly depicts him at all. And yet, when placed beside other verified portraits such as the delicately carved statuette with offering tray (JE 44867) or the yellow enthroned Akhenaten in the Louvre (N 831), the facial likeness becomes recognisable.

Is this the Mummy of Akhenaten?

Akhenaten’s reign is famed for its bold artistic experiments: elongated limbs, swelling bellies, and curving, almost otherworldly faces. We still do not know why he chose such an aesthetic, symbolic theology, an ideological break with tradition, or simply an artistic fashion? Yet amid this wave of stylisation, the sculptor Thutmose, the king’s favoured artist, produced works of startling realism, so vivid they feel like glances from living ancients. This head belongs to that gentler world; a rare, quiet portrait of a king better known for his extremes.

This gentle painted head comes to us not from Amarna itself, but from Hermopolis (ancient Khmunu), a city that played an unexpected role in the afterlife of his art. When the royal workshops at Amarna were abandoned, sculptures were gathered, stored, or even reworked in nearby towns. Hermopolis became one such refuge for displaced royal images.

Jasper Akhenaten

Thus, this head may belong to the later years of Akhenaten’s reign, when the Amarna workshops produced softer, more experimental pieces, or it may be an earlier Akhenaten, carried away during the great clear-out under Tutankhamun and Ay, when the monuments of the “Heretic King” were dismantled and redistributed. Regardless, its presence at Hermopolis is a quiet clue to the statue’s long journey through Egypt’s shifting political winds.