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Lot Essay
This well-preserved figure of a young princess is carved in the unmistakable bold style of the early Amarna period. It likely derives from one of the sculptural groups of Akhenaten and Nefertiti flanked by their daughters, carved into the living rock of the cliffs surrounding the ancient city of Akhetaten (today called Amarna) in the years following its founding in regnal year 5 (1328 B.C.). These family groups were sculpted nearly in the round and placed along both sides of the bases of enormous boundary stelae, which were as high as 8 meters from the ground. Carved in sunk relief, these stelae depict the royal family praying to the sun-god Aten. The scale of these stelae and the accompanying statues provide striking confirmation when seen from below of the power of Akhenaten’s vision of reality, employing the exaggerated new artistic style developed to portray the royal family in the first years after the move from the traditional religious capital at Thebes to the new one at Akhetaten.
Despite the seemingly mature rendering of the large head, with its full lips, sfumato eye, and pierced ear, the treatment of the nude torso with her softly rounded belly above the pubic mound allows for secure identification of this figure as a young Amarna princess. Part of the negative space connecting the body to the living rock is also preserved. There is however no clear trace of the typical sidelock of youth known from some of the other statues of Amarna princesses still preserved, which flank the bases of the boundary stelae (as with Stela N); it is possible that the youngest princess in a group might be distinguished by a completely shaven head, as D. Arnold has suggested (see p. 55 in The Royal Women of Amarna). The torsion of the body and the slightly advanced left leg indicates that the princess was shown striding, a pose also seen on many of the surviving boundary stela statue groups as well as the majority of other known statues of Amarna princesses. The fan-shaped navel typical of Amarna sculpture is also placed off center, reflecting the shift of weight onto the left foot. Her right arm is bent against her chest and perhaps once held a small round fruit or bird (see the example in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, no. 53 in C. Aldred, Akhenaten and Nefertiti; and a similar princess in the Mallawi Museum, Egypt).
Of particular importance to this princess’ identification is the small hand carved in relief on her right shoulder, indicating she was originally from a pair statue, likely of Akhenaten’s eldest two daughters in a protective embrace. Our sculpture most likely depicts Princess Meketaten, embraced by her older sister, Meritaten. The identities of these two girls has been confirmed by the inscriptions naming them alongside their portraits on the monumental boundary stelae. Following the birth of Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s third daughter, Ankhesenpaaten, freestanding figures of that princess were added alongside the existing pair statues. This example is unlikely to have depicted Ankhesenpaaten as it clearly forms an integral part of a pair, as evinced by the preserved hand in relief.
Although it is not possible to assign this sculpture with absolute certainty to a specific boundary stelae, a strong case can be made that this piece may derive from Stela A, the best-known and most accessible of the Amarna boundary stelae. Stelae A and B are the westernmost examples, located in the cliffs above Tuna el-Gebel, some 18 kilometers from and on the opposite side of the Nile from the main city of Akhetaten, where the remainder of the known stelae are located. The cliffs at Tuna el-Gebel are formed of limestone geologically belonging to the Samalut Formation featuring small nummulites (disk-shaped fossils), as well as the frequent fissures and holes that may be seen on this example. An especially important feature of Stela A is the depiction of the two princesses in a sisterly embrace, with the elder sister’s hand across the shoulder of her younger sister as on this example. Where preserved, none of the boundary stelae in the eastern cliffs that are known to have featured statue groups are likely candidates for the placement of this piece; many instead feature the two eldest princesses standing apart and holding hands.
A description of Stela A by the French Jesuit traveler Claude Sicard demonstrates that none of the heads were intact already when he visited in 1714: “…there are figures of two women and two girls in full relief, fixed to the rock only by their feet and partly by a pillar at their backs. The marks of the hammer-blows that beheaded them can still be seen” (p. 59 in D. Montserrat, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt). A detailed drawing of Boundary Stela A at Tuna el-Gebel made in 1824 by Robert Hay shows clearly that the figures of the royal family flanking the stela were heavily damaged by that date; the statues of the youngest princess were already mostly missing. Most likely this piece was discovered close to one of the stelae where it had fallen or been thrown after its vandalism by the traditionalists who restored the cult of Amun following the death of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Norman de Garis Davies, who published the first extensive study of the Amarna boundary stelae in 1908, discovered a number of fragments of sculpture that had most likely been damaged in antiquity, including portions of statues of princesses from Stela Q in the eastern cliffs; a partial head of Nefertiti collected there by Davies is now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (NGV 616.2). An additional, badly weathered torso of a statue of an elder princess was found at Stela Q by Murnane and van Siclen during their 1989 survey. A head of a larger-scale statue of a princess now in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum (E.G.A. 4524.1943) probably derives from a boundary stela statue group (possibly Stela U), as might a similarly large head formerly in the Smeets collection.
This statue has a colorful 20th century history as well. It was first photographed prior to its sale in 1960 by the eminent historian of Egyptian art Bernard Bothmer, former curator of the Brooklyn Museum and professor at the Institute of fine Arts, NYU. It was captured in a photograph alongside other ancient works of art in Lord Snowdon’s extraordinary 1964 portrait at the home of its subsequent owner, Denys Sutton (1917-1991), the long-time editor of Apollo magazine and art critic for Country Life and the Financial Times. Sutton had a strong interest in visual arts and amassed a large collection during his lifetime. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (vol. 53, p. 382), describes him as an "astute collector of art." In addition, Cyril Aldred — one of the 20th century’s chief authorities on the art of the Amarna period — mentions this sculpture in a 1960 letter. Despite being known by two of the most prominent Egyptologists of the 20th century, this sculpture has inexplicably not been included in the corpus.
The importance of the figure presented here lies not only in the high quality of the carving, but also in the extent of preservation — no other known example of royal statuary from one of the boundary stelae preserves the face and body to this extent. This statue of a young princess is an extraordinary example of the art of the early Amarna age, reflecting the moment when master sculptors under Akhenaten’s command first carved monumental royal portraits from the living rock that would define the visual style of the new religion.
Despite the seemingly mature rendering of the large head, with its full lips, sfumato eye, and pierced ear, the treatment of the nude torso with her softly rounded belly above the pubic mound allows for secure identification of this figure as a young Amarna princess. Part of the negative space connecting the body to the living rock is also preserved. There is however no clear trace of the typical sidelock of youth known from some of the other statues of Amarna princesses still preserved, which flank the bases of the boundary stelae (as with Stela N); it is possible that the youngest princess in a group might be distinguished by a completely shaven head, as D. Arnold has suggested (see p. 55 in The Royal Women of Amarna). The torsion of the body and the slightly advanced left leg indicates that the princess was shown striding, a pose also seen on many of the surviving boundary stela statue groups as well as the majority of other known statues of Amarna princesses. The fan-shaped navel typical of Amarna sculpture is also placed off center, reflecting the shift of weight onto the left foot. Her right arm is bent against her chest and perhaps once held a small round fruit or bird (see the example in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, no. 53 in C. Aldred, Akhenaten and Nefertiti; and a similar princess in the Mallawi Museum, Egypt).
Of particular importance to this princess’ identification is the small hand carved in relief on her right shoulder, indicating she was originally from a pair statue, likely of Akhenaten’s eldest two daughters in a protective embrace. Our sculpture most likely depicts Princess Meketaten, embraced by her older sister, Meritaten. The identities of these two girls has been confirmed by the inscriptions naming them alongside their portraits on the monumental boundary stelae. Following the birth of Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s third daughter, Ankhesenpaaten, freestanding figures of that princess were added alongside the existing pair statues. This example is unlikely to have depicted Ankhesenpaaten as it clearly forms an integral part of a pair, as evinced by the preserved hand in relief.
Although it is not possible to assign this sculpture with absolute certainty to a specific boundary stelae, a strong case can be made that this piece may derive from Stela A, the best-known and most accessible of the Amarna boundary stelae. Stelae A and B are the westernmost examples, located in the cliffs above Tuna el-Gebel, some 18 kilometers from and on the opposite side of the Nile from the main city of Akhetaten, where the remainder of the known stelae are located. The cliffs at Tuna el-Gebel are formed of limestone geologically belonging to the Samalut Formation featuring small nummulites (disk-shaped fossils), as well as the frequent fissures and holes that may be seen on this example. An especially important feature of Stela A is the depiction of the two princesses in a sisterly embrace, with the elder sister’s hand across the shoulder of her younger sister as on this example. Where preserved, none of the boundary stelae in the eastern cliffs that are known to have featured statue groups are likely candidates for the placement of this piece; many instead feature the two eldest princesses standing apart and holding hands.
A description of Stela A by the French Jesuit traveler Claude Sicard demonstrates that none of the heads were intact already when he visited in 1714: “…there are figures of two women and two girls in full relief, fixed to the rock only by their feet and partly by a pillar at their backs. The marks of the hammer-blows that beheaded them can still be seen” (p. 59 in D. Montserrat, Akhenaten: History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt). A detailed drawing of Boundary Stela A at Tuna el-Gebel made in 1824 by Robert Hay shows clearly that the figures of the royal family flanking the stela were heavily damaged by that date; the statues of the youngest princess were already mostly missing. Most likely this piece was discovered close to one of the stelae where it had fallen or been thrown after its vandalism by the traditionalists who restored the cult of Amun following the death of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Norman de Garis Davies, who published the first extensive study of the Amarna boundary stelae in 1908, discovered a number of fragments of sculpture that had most likely been damaged in antiquity, including portions of statues of princesses from Stela Q in the eastern cliffs; a partial head of Nefertiti collected there by Davies is now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (NGV 616.2). An additional, badly weathered torso of a statue of an elder princess was found at Stela Q by Murnane and van Siclen during their 1989 survey. A head of a larger-scale statue of a princess now in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum (E.G.A. 4524.1943) probably derives from a boundary stela statue group (possibly Stela U), as might a similarly large head formerly in the Smeets collection.
This statue has a colorful 20th century history as well. It was first photographed prior to its sale in 1960 by the eminent historian of Egyptian art Bernard Bothmer, former curator of the Brooklyn Museum and professor at the Institute of fine Arts, NYU. It was captured in a photograph alongside other ancient works of art in Lord Snowdon’s extraordinary 1964 portrait at the home of its subsequent owner, Denys Sutton (1917-1991), the long-time editor of Apollo magazine and art critic for Country Life and the Financial Times. Sutton had a strong interest in visual arts and amassed a large collection during his lifetime. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (vol. 53, p. 382), describes him as an "astute collector of art." In addition, Cyril Aldred — one of the 20th century’s chief authorities on the art of the Amarna period — mentions this sculpture in a 1960 letter. Despite being known by two of the most prominent Egyptologists of the 20th century, this sculpture has inexplicably not been included in the corpus.
The importance of the figure presented here lies not only in the high quality of the carving, but also in the extent of preservation — no other known example of royal statuary from one of the boundary stelae preserves the face and body to this extent. This statue of a young princess is an extraordinary example of the art of the early Amarna age, reflecting the moment when master sculptors under Akhenaten’s command first carved monumental royal portraits from the living rock that would define the visual style of the new religion.