Plaster model head of King Akhenaten

"In describing his face [...], the millennia must not scare us from the appropriate parable that it looked like that of a young, distinguished Englishman of a little bloomed sex: long drawn, haughty and tired, with a downward trained, i.e. by no means lacking and yet weak chin, a nose whose narrow, slightly squeezed saddle the broad, weathering nostrils the falling This portrait head is an exception among the many royal plaster models. It differs from the portrait heads, which are based on the traditional depiction canon and therefore seem more idealistic. In the example shown here, the assignment is clear: the head outline and the individual physiognomy with the slightly opened eyes, the long nose, the full lips and the triangular facial shape explicitly point to Pharaoh. The mimic design is typical of Akhenaten, even though the well-known expressive expression of the early years is not present here. With the fully plastic cast head with shoulder attachment, the crown band was only slightly plastic. The lower end of the headband was subsequently marked by a thin colored line. The eyebrows and the edges of the eyes are painted black. Fine lines mark the Oberlidfurche, the nasolabial tuck, the nasal wings and nostrils and thus convey a vivid, visual overall impression. At the temples, the recesses for the crown approach are visible, whereby on the left side the nopp structure of the Blue Crown can be seen. In the neck of the plaster model a vertically lying crown band was formed. The casting was probably made of two shaped elements, as remnants of a retouched central seam can still be seen on the forehead and the band above it. As a template for this plastery, a statue head was obviously used, from which the sculptor made a true scale copy. Probably this portrait head is a finished model and a piece of views in a workshop. From: Young, M., in: F. Seyfried (ed.), In the Light of Amarna. 100 years of the Nofretene find, Berlin 2012, p. 332 (Cat. No. 120). Origin information: German Orient Society (DOG), client Borchardt, Ludwig (5.10.1863 - 12.8.1938), head of the excavation Amenophis (Amenhotep) IV/Akhenaten Dating: Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten P 47.02 (Egypt/Middle Egypt/Amarna/P 47/P 47.01-03 (estate)) Room 19 donation James Simon, 1920 (Egyptian museum and collection of papyrus)