Thursday, February 22, 2018

Nefertiti Bust, sculpture detail, 1370 – c. 1330 BC




4 comments:

  1. Watched "Expedition Unknown" on The Travel Channel (hey, don't judge me..) and they had a two-part episode dealing with some of the queens of Egypt.

    They rightly pointed out that Cleopatra was a Greek ruler of Egypt, so think olive skin, big honking nose and all.

    Then they took a 3d Xray/Sonar scan of 'The Young Lady's' mummy, sent the info to a reconstruction lab, had a replica done on a 3D printer, then fleshed it out. Only reasonably subjective thing was skin color, which the artist based on the above bust. The reconstruction came out looking almost like the above bust.

    And, of course, our darker-skinned brethren got all freaked out because they didn't make her some Nubian princess. Oh, well.

    But back to the original story, if you can catch it, I recommend watching it. Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cleopatra was said to be really nothing special in the looks department, but was intelligent, witty, and understood perfectly the power politics of the time. Perhaps it is no wonder she wrapped Julius Caesar, and then Mark Anthony around her little finger.

      Delete
  2. She also controlled the bread of Rome. Famine concentrates the mind wonderfully.

    ReplyDelete