Antique cast of a statue head of Akhenaten

Excavated in December 1912, the portrait busts, which came into the possession of James Simon in 1913 during the division of finds, acquired their unique importance by virtue of the location where they were found, the workshop of the sculptor Tuthmosis. The stucco heads of Akhenaten and Amenhotep III (?) are casts from statues which served as models for additional portraits of the same type. Typical of a sculptor’s modelis the limestone bust of the king, on which the facial features have been marked in colour. These finds indicate that the workshop stopped activity quite suddenly. The unfinished works show the various phases in the search for the final form and allow today’s viewers to participate in the artistic process.