Ever since I first saw a picture of this Egyptian masterpiece in an introductory art history survey course about two-thirds of the way through the last century, I've considered it heart-stoppingly beautiful.
Below, the description of the piece on the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), where you can see it up close and personal in Gallery 121.
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This striking fragment is from a statue composed of different materials. The back of the piece shows remains of the mortise that fitted onto a tenon extending from the statue's body which may have been made of Egyptian alabaster to represent a white garment. Two headdresses might have fit this head: the khat-headdress, or the Nubian wig (as seen on the canopic jar lid, 30.8.54, in the same gallery).g
The royal woman represented here cannot be identified with certainty. It is difficult to imagine that the already aged Queen Tiye—the mother of Akhenaten and highly respected as a wise woman at Amarna—was shown as a beauty of such sensuous character. Queens Nefertiti and Kiya, however, are both possible subjects.
Artwork Details
Title: Fragment of a Queen's Face
Period: New Kingdom
Dynasty: mid Dynasty 18
Reign: reign of Amenhotep III or Akhenaten
Date: ca. 1390–1336 B.C.
Geography: From Egypt; Probably from Middle Egypt, Amarna (Akhetaten)
Medium: Yellow jasper
Dimensions: h. 13 cm (5 1/8 in.); w. 12.5 cm (4 15/16 in.); d. 12.5 cm (4 15/16 in.)
Credit Line: Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926
Object Number: 26.7.1396
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