Fragment of the head of a queen
Early Amarna Period, ca. 1350-1340 B.C.
Yellow jasper, h. 5 1/2 in.
Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926
26.7.1396

This fragment of a lifesize head is famous because of the extraordinary skill and patience it must have taken to create it. It is made of the semiprecious stone jasper, a form of quartz so hard that it could not be carved with the bronze tools of Egyptian sculptors. Instead, the sculptor chipped and pecked the jasper into the basic form using a stone hammer. Then the surface was abraded; that is, the sculptor rubbed it with pastes of fine quartz. As the piece neared completion, finer and finer pastes were used to create the subtle details and sheen of the surface.

Because of the rarity of the stone and following a trend of the period, only the flesh parts of the figure were of jasper. The rest of the figure was made of other materials, such as, perhaps, white alabaster for the garments and wood covered with colored stones and gold for the headdress. It is remarkable that this fragment of such a precious work of art was preserved at all, because jasper was much in demand for jewelry.

Given the value of the materials, this fragment must have come from a statue that represented a royal person: a queen, of course, not a king, since yellow-tan flesh tones signify the female in Egyptian art. Light reflecting from the polished surfaces emphasizes the modeling of the chin, the curve of the cheeks, and the flesh of the lips. Imagine what the rest of the face, undoubtedly as carefully modeled and polished, must have looked like. Then imagine the splendor of the entire figure.

Notice: condition, material

Discuss: how we know this fragment represents a queen, why this head is famous

Compare with: Akhenaten sacrificing a duck, Canopic jar with a lid in the shape of a royal woman's head, and Tutankhamun wearing the blue crown

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