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Painted sandstone, width 10-5/8 inches
Egypt, Karnak, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep IV, ca. 1353-1348 bc
Amenhotep IV built a huge temple to the sun-disk, or Aten, east of the temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak. His wife, the famous Nefertiti, was depicted numerous times in the reliefs there, more often even than the king. This temple (built in the early part of the king's reign, before he changed his name to Akhenaten) was destroyed by his successors, who reused the blocks in constructions of their own. Thus concealed, protected from the sun and the wind, the blocks retained their brilliant colors, which were revealed when the mighty pylons in which they had been incorporated fell apart.
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1976.4
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