Queen Nofret

F  

queen Nofret
 Two statues of queen Nofret

They are made out of black granite.

F   Discoverer and place of discovery:

They were discovered by Mariette in 1860-61 at Tanis "Dant", How ever it is suggested that both statues were transported there from another site.

F   Dating:

Both statues date back to the Middle Kingdom, 12^th dynasty, reign of king Senusert II.

F   Historical background about queen Nofret:

She is the wife of king Senusert II, she held many titles among which the noblewoman, favorite and greatly praised one, beloved of Khaa-kheper-rea; consort of Sesostris II, a king's daughter and mistress of all women, her name "Nfrt" means the beautiful one. She has a magnificent black granite bust, which is now displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.

F   Description:

The soft and gentle quality found in some early 12^th dynasty statues, which strongly influenced by Memphite art of the Old Kingdom proved to be short-lived, after that official art rapidly came to develop a realistic tendency, as it revived the strong modeling inherited from its Theban ancestors, and female royal Statues of that period of the 12^th dynasty followed this new canon, whose primary feature is power.

Queen Nofret is shown in both statues in sitting attitude on a throne with a short curved back, with all features of majesty and royalty, she wears a massive wig with long wavy tresses, this type of wig was in fashion at court during the 12^th Dynasty, and it was adopted in other sites outside Egypt. Apparently the wig's feminine qualities were responsible, for its ultimate association with goddess Hathor that is why it was known as the 'Hathorian wig".

It is assured that the appearance this type of wig was prior to its appearance on this statue, moreover it continued to be represented on Hathorian columns and sistra long after the end of the Middle Kingdom, when it otherwise was not fell into disuse, anyway the wig itself apparently has an archaic prototype. Nofret's statue and its counterpart provides the clearest example of the structure of that wig, it consists of three separate lappets; a large one falls behind the head, it has wavy tresses, that are bound at intervals by horizontal narrow bands, that determine the shape of the thick tresses the ends of the tresses are curved around two spirals encircling disks, rest over her breasts, straight tresses of hair fall downward at the back other head, to approximately the same length of the front two lappets.

These tresses at the back of her head encounter a supporting back pillar that continues on down to the short curved back of the throne, its main function was to strengthen the statue from behind and to avoid the break of the neck, which is considered a fragile area in the statue. The uraeus or royal cobra on her forehead is reduced to a tiny size; it was a sign of protection in ancient Egypt.

As for her facial features, she has a narrow forehead, her eyebrows and cosmetic eye lines are carved in high reliefs, the eyes were once inlaid, but unfortunately the inlay of the eyes is now missing, however the sightless gaze of Queen Nofret has lost none of its majesty. Her nose is partly broken, she has high cheekbones, viewed from below the line of the mouth seems almost straight, but at eye level it shows a gentle light smile.

The strength of her face is clearly shown through her gaze, the curved edge of the facets beneath the eyes and the taut lines that frame the space between the ends of the mouth and the chin. The ears are large in size and spread out by the wig in accordance with the standards of the realistic art, which was common during the 2^nd half of the 12^th dynasty. Just in front of each ear, a crescent-shaped curl other natural hair is visible.

On her chest, she wears an open-work pectoral suspended from a broad ribbon, it has a type often worn by contemporary aristocratic women however that of Nofret depicts a royal cartouche of her husband king Senusert II; tomb discoveries have revealed a number of magnificent examples of that pectoral. The pectoral itself takes a trapezoidal form that is more elongated than any of the several 12^th dynasty pectorals.

The pectoral of the 1^st statue is depicted with a royal cartouche contain the coronation name of king Senusert II that is pronounced as "xa -xpr-Ra", that means, "the form of Rea appears or shines", this cartouche is flanked by two royal cobras, the royal cobra on the right-hand side is shown wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt (), while that on the left-hand side is shown wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt (). The next register shows a pair of "wDAt" eyes of god Horns (), the lower register is depicted with a djed pillar of god Osiris (), symbolizing stability and permanence, flanked by a pair of lapwings () (a kind of birds was known in Egyptian language as rxyt), representing the common people of Egypt, due to the presence of these birds, it was suggested that the 3 registers on the pectoral could be explained and read as follows: "the commoners behold the stability of the king of Upper and Lowe Egypt Khaa-kheper-rea".

Queen Nofret is shown with her right arm rests flatly on her right thigh, with open palm, while her left arm is bent across her body, with open palm rests on her right elbow, and the wrists are decorated with a pair of bracelets, this gesture of the bent arm seems to be confined to the left arm in Middle Kingdom statues.

The queen's body is sculptured with great restraint, as she is shown wearing a tight fitting dress exposing the details of her body and reaches down till her shins, it has two shoulder straps which expose her shoulders and part other chests.

Most of the lower part of this statue is restored -i.e. the throne and the queen's legs- as well as both elbows, that is why all the hieroglyphic inscriptions, giving the names and titles of the queen, on the two sides of the throne are now missing except for her title pronounced as "rpat", that means the noblewoman.

Second statue of queen Nofret

It is almost identical to the first one apart from the following differences:

1- The attitude of the left arm, which is resting flatly on the left thigh of the Queen, with open palm, thus the arms of the 2^nd statue have the same attitude.

2- The eyes show the prolongation of the "cosmetic line" in high relief, which makes them look smaller than the eyes of the 1^st statue.

3- The pectoral, which ornaments the queen's chest on this statue has two registers, the 1^st one is depicted with the two "wDAt" eyes of god Horus, while the 2^nd one is depicted with a royal cartouche contains the coronation name of king Senusert II pronounced as "xa -xpr-Ra", it is flanked by a pair of vultures standing on the hieroglyphic sign "nwb" (), which means "gold".

4- Although the faces are almost identical, there is a certain degree of asymmetry, as there is a very noticeable difference in the shape and level of the eyebrows, however the faces of both statues has suffered an equal amount of damage.

5- This statue provides the complete titulary and name of queen Nofret, which are inscribed in hieroglyphic signs in sunk reliefs, on the two sides of the throne and pedestal of the statue. These inscriptions contain the coronation name of king Senusert II. It should be mentioned here that the inscriptions are complete on this statue, unlike the 1^st one, because its lower part is not restored.

6- Most of the two arms of this statue are broken.

Eventually, it is worthy here to mention that, such variations between a pair of statues for the same person were common in nearly every period, and a certain degree of asymmetry is usual even in the faces of such statues, where it was doubtless felt to give certain vividness to the statues.