NEFERTITI’S FACE NEFERTITI’S FACE THE CREATION OF AN ICON JOYCE TYLDESLEY Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts 2018 For all my students, past, present and future Copyright © Joyce Tyldesley, 2018 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Profile Books Ltd 3 Holford Yard Bevin Way London wc1x 9hd www.profilebooks.com First Harvard University Press edition, 2018 First printing Typeset in Adobe Garamond by MacGuru Ltd The moral right of the author has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available at the Library of Congress ISBN 978-0-674-98375-5 (cloth : alk. paper) CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Nefertiti’s Egypt ix Map of Amarna x Plan: Thutmose’s House/Workshop xi Introduction: Seeking Nefertiti 1 Background to the Amarna Age 7 PART I: Creating Nefertiti 1 Thutmose 27 2 Chief of Works 51 3 Taught by the King 70 4 The Beautiful Woman 88 PART II: Recreating Nefertiti 5 The Colourful Queen 119 6 The German Queen 137 7 Multiple Nefertitis 156 8 Looking for Nefertiti 175 Notes 187 Bibliography and Further Reading 204 List of Illustrations 217 Index 219 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I always worry when I start a new book. Is my subject of interest to a wide readership or – horrible thought – is it simply my own, self- indulgent obsession? With this book, all worries soon evaporated. The ‘Berlin bust’ which is believed to depict Queen Nefertiti is clearly a subject of interest to many people, and from the outset I have been overwhelmed by the support that I have received from friends, colleagues, students and complete strangers too numerous to mention individually. Thank you all. The themes developed in this book were first presented in a lecture given to the Egypt Exploration Society in 2010, and refined for a lecture given for the Showcase Seminar series in the Manches- ter Museum in 2011. I would like to thank both organisations for their support. The delay in writing was caused by an unfortunate series of personal circumstances. I would like to thank all my editors at Profile Books – the late Peter Carson, Daniel Crewe, Penny Daniel and Cecily Gayford – as well as my copy-editor, Trevor Horwood, for their patience with what must, at times, have seemed like a never-ending project. Campbell Price, Curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum, never allowed me to give up on Nefertiti. Carolyn Rout- ledge and Angela Thomas, both former Curators of Egyptology and NEFERTITI’S FACE Archaeology at Bolton Museum, each provided helpful information about the Bolton Nefertiti replica. George Rothschild has gener- ously taken the time to discuss his great uncle, Ludwig Borchardt, with me. ‘Michelle’, of Southern Artists, Forgers and Hackers, has discussed the creation of the Landis replica bust and Cosmo Wenman has shared his work on the Nefertiti 3D scan heist/hoax. Pauline Norris explained the importance of Thutmose’s horse blinker. Amanda Turnbull shared both her art and her library; Joseph Thimes shared his knowledge of DNA; and Dominique Leroux shared the fortuitous finding of a replica Nefertiti in Paris. Robin Snell explained the importance of her Nefertiti tattoo, while Kerry Webb provided random but important support, from thoughts on bald Disney villainesses to links to articles and televi- sion programmes, and encouraged me with a series of cheerful post- cards when I was on the verge of giving up. My family have gone to extraordinary lengths to support my growing obsession with the Nefertiti bust. In particular my brother, Frank Tyldesley, volun- teered (or was volunteered) to make a life-sized limestone replica, just so that I could get some idea of how the original might have been made. My husband, Steven Snape, supported me through my writing and accompanied me to many museums and art galleries on my quest to look at as many different forms of Nefertiti as possible. I am grateful to them all. viii 50 miles M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a 100 kilometres Heliopolis Giza Memphis Saqqara Fayum SINAI Gurob Bahariya Oasis Hermopolis Magna Amarna Red Sea Farafra Nile Oasis ’ Nefertiti s Egypt 1 mile Armant Luxor 2 kilometres Valley Karnak of the Temple Kings Complex R i v e Gebel el-Silsila r N Deir el Medina i l Luxor Kom el-Hetan e Aswan Valley of the Queens