Akhenaten and Nefertiti
Unknown · Reign of Akhenaten, c. 1349-1333 BC
The king and queen walk forward hand in hand, a gesture almost never shown for an Egyptian royal couple. Akhenaten wears the tall blue crown with its cobra, a pleated kilt with a front panel, a broad collar and sandals. Nefertiti wears the flat topped crown that is hers alone, a pleated dress, earrings and a collar. Both have the long jaw, thin neck and full hips of the Amarna style. The statue is only twenty two centimetres high but painted in red, white, blue and black. Look at the base and back pillar for the fine red lines the sculptor ruled to set out the figures, and for the royal cartouches that name the couple.
Akhenaten, who ruled around thirteen forty BC, broke with the old gods to worship the sun disc Aten, and his art broke with tradition too, favouring intimate, affectionate images of the royal family. Small groups like this one stood in household shrines in the new capital at Amarna, where the king and queen took the place of the traditional gods. The statue was bought by the American collector Curtis in nineteen ten and given to the Louvre with his wife in nineteen thirty eight.
Did You Know? The sculptor's red guide lines are still visible on the statue, so you can see the grid on which the two royal figures were laid out.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.