In a quiet chamber of House L.50.12 at Amarna, not far from a modest domestic shrine, excavators of the 1923–24 season uncovered two sandstone figures standing side by side: the heretic king Akhenaten and his queen, the ever-radiant Nefertiti. Fashioned in the later years of the Atenist experiment, both statues once held offering trays aloft...
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...
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...
Among the loveliest relics of the Amarna Period are a handful of carved slabs, now scattered across the world (from the Kestner Museum in Hanover to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Brooklyn Museum of New York) showing Akhenaten as a human-headed sphinx. He crouches in the classic pose, forepaws extended, muscles taut...
This charming little pylon-shrine, carved in painted limestone, once stood not in a grand temple but within the private quarters of an Amarna household. Discovered amid the ruins of Akhetaten (the short-lived capital founded by Akhenaten, known today as Amarna) it belongs to a distinctive class of domestic altars that flourished during the city’s brief,...
Limestone relief from a building, decorated with a carved scene showing two soldiers. The soldiers can be identified as Nubians (from Southern Egypt-Sudan) on account of the short wigs that they wear. Nubians were seen as one of the traditional enemies of ancient Egypt because their territories bordered Egypt. Nubian soldiers fighting for Egypt were,...
In ancient Egypt, clappers, carved from materials like ivory or wood, were percussion instruments used in rituals and ceremonies, often linked to the goddess Hathor. Found in a coffin at Amarna, they served not only musical purposes but also held symbolic significance in religious contexts, particularly during worship and festivals.
This small statue, which depicts King Akhenaten making offerings, was discovered in a house in the residential area of Tell el-Amarna. This type of statuette served as a figurative embodiment of the human pharaoh, enabling the magic rituals in the celebration of religious rites connected with Aten. Akhenaten was a pharaoh who reigned during the...
This small fragmentary head made from white limestone is clearly of the Amarna Period. During Akhenaten’s reign, royal portraiture witnessed significant changes., there are numerous sculptures of Akhenaten and his royal household which deviate from traditional depictions of the monarchy. Akhenaten is sometimes shown what some deem “androgynous” and highly stylized, with huge thighs, a...
This plaster head of king Akhenaten was discovered within the remnants of the studio of the sculptor Thutmose at Tel el-Amarna (House P 47.02, Room 19). House P 47.02, Room 19, is the same location where the famous painted limestone bust was also discovered. Photographs of both the painted bust of Nefertiti and this plaster...
