The muscles of the nape and sides of the neck are so delicately rendered that one imagines one sees them flexing under the delicate skin, which is rendered in a healthy hue.Įgyptian sculptors hardly ever attempted to express any emotion in the faces of their artworks, but this face is the embodiment of serenity and composure. In several places traces of impure moisture, probably from rain water, which flowed contaminated through the already leaky roof and fell on the bust still standing on its shelf. On the right shoulder as well a small piece chipped off additionally, here and there scarcely noticeable scratches on the face, nose, etc. The inlay is missing from the left eye since however no traces of a binding agent were detected in the eye socket, and the background is smooth and not in any way recessed so as to accommodate an inlay, it is certain that the left eye was never filled with an inlay. The erect portion of the cobra is broken off, as are two small pieces of the sharp upper edge of the wig on the right and left on the left side a larger section of the plaster coating has flaked off both ears are damaged, on the right some fragments have now been reattached. Today I would like to write the same again, as I am convinced that my words cannot portray the impression left by this work of art, and that even the colour reproduction does not clearly illustrate the vivacity and delicacy of the original, but only suggests them. Borchardt first repeats the later famous entry in his diary, “description is useless, must be seen”, and then continues: Even from our present perspective his words can still be considered authoritative. Description Is, in Fact, UsefulĪlthough Borchardt rightly emphasised that the beauty of the bust can only be appreciated through first-hand observation, he himself undertook a description of it for the first detailed publication on the piece in 1923, 11 years after it was found. It was written by Ludwig Borchardt, who led the excavation at Tell el-Amarna, and has often been cited, above all because of the succinct passage: “Description is useless, must be seen”. This quote from the 1912 excavation diary is the first known description of the bust of Nefertiti. Only the ears a part of the r side of the wig damaged.” Counterpart to the bust of the king from p. With the flat-cut blue wig, which also has a ribbon wrapped around it halfway up. “Life-sized painted bust of the queen, 47 cm high.
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