Bust of Nefertiti

From Joy of Museums:

The bust served in the workshop of the Tuthmosis, as a model for artists producing portraits of the queen. Nefertiti is shown as a woman with a subtle beauty which is not diminished by the folds under the eyes and chin or the slightly sunken cheeks. The bust is made of limestone which is covered with modelled gypsum. The eye is inlaid with crystal and the pupil attached with black coloured wax. The second eye-inlay was never completed.

The bust was discovered by German archaeologists in 1912 when they excavated the Thutmose’s workshop in Egypt. The German expedition was digging under license at the time from the government in Egypt, which was ruled by the Ottoman Empire.

The “Nefertiti Bust” was brought to Berlin in 1913 just before World War I. During World War II, it was removed by the Nazi government to a secret location for safekeeping from the bombing of Berlin. The Nefertiti Bust was discovered by the occupying American forces in a salt mine and put on display in West Berlin. The Soviets who occupied East Berlin where the Neues Museum and Museum Island are located, objected and demanded that the bust is returned to the Neues Museum and Museum Island. The “Nefertiti Bust” became a pawn in Cold War rivalries between the East and West. Many masterpieces that were found in East German Museums by the Soviets were shipped to the Soviet Union as the spoils of war in 1945-1946. (Read more.)

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