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Egypt, Karnak, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten (1351–1334 BCE) / 1353–1347 BCE

Talatat: Nefertiti Offers to the Aten

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Talatat: Nefertiti Offers to the Aten as sculpture (Egypt, Karnak, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Akhenaten (1351–1334 BCE) · 1353–1347 BCE).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

Just in front of her nostril is the ankh or symbol of life, being given to her by Aten the sun, so that she may breathe in the god's gift of life.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this sculpture as painted sandstone.

The museum's collection notes: The son of Amenhotep III, Akenaten, brought about the short-lived "monotheistic" revolution in Egyptian religion near the end of Dynasty 18. The young king constructed a temple complex to the Aten, the Sun Disk, at Karnak—where this relief originated—before he moved his capital to El Amarna. For reasons unknown, the figure of the Queen Nefertiti appears in these reliefs far more often than that of the king. Ironically, the Aten temples were dismantled to be used as foundations and fill for adaptations to the Great Temple of Amun, whom the Aten had briefly displaced.

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtTalatat: Nefertiti Offers to the Aten

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