Relief Fragment of Nefertiti Offering to the Aten

Place of OriginEgypt, Akhetaten (modern Tell el-Amarna)

Date18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BCE), about 1350 BCE

Dimensions4 5/8 × 5 5/8 × 1 5/8 in. (11.7 × 14.3 × 4.1 cm)

MediumLimestone with paint

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of the Egypt Exploration Society

Object number

1925.711

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionCarved in sunken relief, this small limestone fragment shows a figure offering flowers to the Aten. Three solar rays with hands extend from the sun disk above. A neckline across the chest suggests female dress. Traces of red pigment remain on the figure, with faint color on the bouquet. Edges are broken, indicating it was once part of a larger scene.

Label TextThis limestone relief fragment was excavated in 1923–1924 by the Egypt Exploration Society at Akhetaten (modern Amarna), the short-lived capital founded by Pharaoh Akhenaten. It shows a figure, likely Queen Nefertiti, offering a bouquet of flowers to the Aten, the sun disk deity central to Akhenaten’s religious reforms. Three curving rays from the Aten terminate in small hands, a hallmark of Atenist iconography. The figure’s extended arm, bouquet, and the preserved line of a dress neckline suggest a scene of divine veneration. The fragment was assigned to the Toledo Museum of Art through the EES’s official division of archaeological finds.Published ReferencesLuckner, Kurt T., "The Art of Egypt, Part 2," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, New Series: Vol. 14, No. 3, Fall 1971, p. 63, repr. Fig. 4.

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 56-57, repr. (col.) p. 20, 57.

Fortenberry, Diane ed., Souvenirs and New Ideas: Travel and Collecting in Egypt and the Near East, Oxford, UK, Oxbow Books, 2013, p. 31, repr. fig. 3.10, p. 34.