Nefertiti - Eternal Beauty

I, like many people own a small copy of the statue of Nefertiti, the Queen of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten .....

 

Nefertiti Statue

 

..... its black, and shows her bust as whole and complete, with her ears and missing eye repaired. You can buy many representations of the original bust, some very gaudy indeed, but the best, are faithful copies, in colour etc, but to my eyes too faithful.

 

I do not subscribe to the modern trends of not repairing antiques, leaving gold goblets in the crushed state which they left the ground ..... its an affectation brought in by Western archaeologists and means that instead of seeing things as the ancients wanted them seen, we see them as broken and have to rely on artists impressions.

This is rubbish .... anyone seeing the Great Wall of China is impressed .... but in fact its mostly a modern repair of what would otherwise been a ruin, while we have Hadrian's Wall, which is mostly lying in ruins.  Can you imagine the Chinese leaving it, or Stonehenge in ruins, when they could be restored back to life? Stonehenge for example could have all the cap stones put back, and the fallen sentry stones put back upright and would be nearly complete again ..... how magical would that be?

Stonehenge Before The Victorian Repairs

In fact the Victorians, who were not the lily livered PC ridden society that we are, actually created the version of Stonehenge that we see now .... they just didn't have the technology to complete the task and we have undertaken major repairs in 1919 and 1958

Repairs to Stonehenge in 1919 and 1958

But we just haven't gone the whole hog and completed the task.

Oh and Nefertiti, well I have added the suitable repairs to the original using Paint Shop Pro and now you can see what I mean by Eternal Beauty.

Nefertiti an Eternal Beauty - Restored By Me.

Just for interest, I have mocked up painted busts of Akhenaten ....

Akhenaten - Early Amarna Style
 Bust. Succeeded by Nefertiti

..... and Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun - Amarna Style Based
On Bust In Altes Museum, Berlin

.... most historians now think that they ruled in succession, until Tutankhamun killed.

NB: A side thought. This painted stone and wood or plaster is how all statues/busts in the ancient world looked .... yep, that includes all those white marble nudes in the museums, and friezes over doorways such as the Elgin Marbles. The ancient world was a riot of colour and murals, that make our cities look tame.