As usual Nevine El-Aref has provided a good summary of a widely reported story:
Since it was discovered in 1912 by the German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt, the painted bust of Nefertiti, excavated from the studio of the sculptor Tuthmosis, has been an icon of female perfection. When it was exhibited to the public for the first time in 1923 it drew thousands of admirers who marvelled at the symmetrical features of Akhenaten's queen.
The bust shows a woman with a long neck, elegantly arched brows, high cheekbones, a slender nose and a smile drawn on her red lips. Recent CT scans carried out by a German team of researchers led by Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute at Berlin's Charite Hospital and Medical School, however, indicate the royal image may well have been touched up. According to a report published last week in the monthly journal of the Radiology Society of North America, the Nefertiti bust has two faces, one on top of the other.
Huppertz's team has discovered that the stone core of the bust is a detailed sculpture of the queen. "The hypothesis was that the stone underneath was just a support," he says.
The differences between the faces, though slight -- creases at the corners of the mouth and a bump on the nose of the stone version -- have led Huppertz to suggest that the statue was altered on the express orders of someone when royal sculptors immortalised the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten 3,300 years ago.
See the above page for the full story.
No comments:
Post a Comment