Akhenaten and Nefertiti with their Children
“Akhenaten and Nefertiti with their Children” is a small house shrine stele made of limestone. Akhenaton and Nefertiti are shown with the three of their daughters.
Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. The body forms are depicted in relief, the overlong proportions, wide hips, thin legs, and the forwardly curved necks, are typical of the early Amarna artistic style.
Probably used as a home altar, this historic depiction provides a rare opportunity to view a scene from the private life of the king and queen. The daughters are being held and caressed by their parents in the presence of their god Aten. A
ten is in the center of the scene represented as a sun disc with sunrays ending in hands proffering ‘ank’-signs (life-signs) to the royal couple.
Amenhotep IV not only changed his name from Amenhotep to Akhenaten, but he also turned the religion of ancient Egypt from polytheistic to monotheistic.
Pharaoh Akhenaten ruled for 17 years and died between 1336 – 1334 BC and is famous in history for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing an early form of monotheistic worship centered on the Aten.
However, as in past Egyptian religions, only through the intercession of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti could ordinary people partake in the divine salvation.
A relief of a royal couple in the Amarna style
As well as a new religion, the royal couple introduced a new art form. The Amarna period, roughly 1353-1336 BCE, launched a new kind of art that was revolutionary compared to the previously known and revered art form in the Egyptian culture.
This period challenged the norm of Egyptian society as Akhenaten choose to depict his reign in a vastly different and unique way from the rulers who came before him.
Before Akhenaten’s rise to the throne, Egyptian art was stagnant, focused heavily on permanence both of the object and the subject.
The family image during the Amarna period was more prevalent than other Ancient Egyptian periods. The Amarna family scenes are more intimate than those from the reign of any other pharaoh.
The family motif may have originated with the new religion. It was a way for Akhenaten and his family to set an example of piety to Aten for others in the court.
A sense of movement and activity characterizes the Amarna style during the Amarna Period in images. Figures have raised hands with figures overlapping and scenes that are busy and crowded.
The human body is portrayed differently with figures, always shown in profile on reliefs; they are slender with exaggerated legs and arms.
Depictions of figures represent feminine qualities such as large hips, prominent breasts, and rounded stomach and thighs. However, other pieces, such as the “Nefertiti Bust,” show much less apparent features of the Amarna style.
Akhenaten and Nefertiti with their Children
- Title: Akhenaten and Nefertiti with their Children
- Date: 1340 BCE
- Period: New Kingdom, Amarna period, 18th dynasty
- Material: Limestone
- Dimensions: H: 32.5 cm
- Discovered: 1912: Amarna, Egypt
- Museums: Egyptian Museum of Berlin, Neues Museum or Altes Museum, Berlin
Pharaoh Akhenaten ( Amenhotep IV )
- Name: Pharaoh Akhenaten, previously known as Amenhotep IV
- Role: Pharaoh
- Reigned: Approx. 1353–1336 BC
- Famous Consort: Nefertiti
- Famous Son: Tutankhamun
- Historical Significance: He attempted to introduce an early version of monotheism
A Virtual Tour of Egyptian Art
- Nefertiti Bust
- Tutankhamun’s Mask
- Narmer Palette
- Merneptah Stele
- Standing Figure of Nefertiti
- A house altar showing Akhenaten and Nefertiti with their children
- Relief Portrait of Akhenaten
- The Rosetta Stone
- The Battlefield Palette 3100 BC
- Quartzite Head of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III
- Colossal Granite Statue of Amenhotep III
- Hunters Palette
- Tomb of Nebamun
- The Temple of Dendur
- The Sphinx of Hatshepsut
- William the Faience Hippopotamus
- Shawabti of King Senkamanisken
- Younger Memnon (Ramesses II)
- Pillar of Ramsesemperre, Royal Cupbearer and Fanbearer
- Relief of Hormin with a Weighing of the Heart
- Relief of Horemheb with Nubian Prisoners
- Akhenaten and Nefertiti
- Seated Scribe
- Sarcophagus Lid of Queen Sitdjehuti
- Stela of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Family
- Statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye
- Colossal Statues of Akhenaten
- Obelisk of Titus Sextius Africanus
Virtual Tour of Museums with Egyptian Artifacts
- Egyptian Museum, Cairo
- The British Museum
- Neues Museum, Berlin
- Egyptian Museum of Berlin, Neues Museum, Berlin
- Metropolitan Museum of Art – MET, New York, USA
- Penn Museum
- The Archaeological Civic Museum of Bologna
- Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst
Virtual Tour of Museums in Berlin
- The Pergamon Museum
- Neues Museum
- Altes Museum
- Alte Nationalgalerie – National Gallery (Berlin)
- Bode Museum
- Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
- Spy Museum Berlin
- Jewish Museum, Berlin
- Deutsches Historisches Museum – German Historical Museum
- DDR Museum
Nefertiti, Akhenaten, and their daughters
How Akhenaten Demolished Centuries of Egyptian Tradition
Akhenaten and the Amarna Style
Nefertiti – Egyptian Queen & Great Royal Wife of Pharoah Akhenaten
~~~
“It is not God’s will merely that we should be happy, but that we should make ourselves happy.”
– Immanuel Kant
~~~
Photo Credit: 1) By UnknownKeith Schengili-Roberts (Own work (photo)) [Public domain, GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 2) By Photo: Andreas Praefcke (Own work (own photograph)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Popular this Week
