Akhenaten and Nefertiti Offering Before Aten
Place found:
Date: ca. 1352-1336 B.C.
Dimensions:22 7/8 x 52 11/16 in. (58.2 x 133.9 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Gilbert M. Denman, Jr.
Object number: 91.80.164
Provenance: Found at Hermopolis, 1930s or 40s. With Khawam Brothers, Cairo, 1940s [note 1]. Private collection, U.S.A., by 1965 [note 2]. With Jack Ogden, London, by 1987; sold by Jack Ogden to Gilbert M. Denman, Jr. (1921-2004), San Antonio, 1988; Gilbert M. Denman, Jr., by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 1991.
Note 1: according to correspondence with Bertrand Khawam in 2022-2023.
Note 2: published in J. D. Cooney, Amarna Reliefs from Hermopolis in American Collections (New York: Brooklyn Museum, 1965), p. 9, no. 3a.
Published References
J. D. Cooney, Amarna Reliefs from Hermopolis in American Collections (New York: Brooklyn Museum,1965), p. 9, no. 3a
G. Roeder, Amarna-Reliefs aus Hermopolis (Hildesheim, 1969) PC 23, pl. 173
"Dynasties: The Egyptian Royal Image in the New Kingdom," (San Antonio Museum of Art, 1995), no. 14
Label TextAkhenaten and Nefertiti stand before an offering table supporting large jars of ointment as they raise their hands in adoration of the sun god Aten. Sunbeams from the Aten once descended on the royal couple and their offering as the finger of a terminal sunbeam hand may be seen between unguent jars. The treatment of Nefertiti's figure, which is clearly indicated beneath her diaphanous gown, is sensitive and the forms of the body have been carefully rendered. Similar attention to detail is to be noted in the treatment of the couple's garments with their painstakingly carved pleats and sashes. (Gallery Label, 8/2002).