THIS DELIGHTFUL statue of an Amarna princess in soft white limestone is of unknown provenance, but is probably from Tel Al-Amarna. Just over 15 inches high, this nude figure stands against a pillar with locked knees, her plump left leg slightly forward. It is almost perfect condition, with slight damage to her left foot, upper left arm, upper left thigh, and right hand. Modern repairs have been carried out to the neck and legs, and part of the nose is missing. Despite this, it is a beautiful work of art. The princess smiles serenely; her cupped right hand holds a pomegranate to her breasts, while her relaxed left arm hangs at her side. During the so-called Amarna Period (c. 1375-1350 BC), Akhenaten was depicted quite naturalistically. Before that, for thousands of years, the Pharaoh had been portrayed as great, powerful and majestic. Whether sculpted massively for temple entrance, or shown being crowned, honoured and adored in temple relief, he was symbolically depicted as a giant. He clasped captives by their long hair as a hunter holds his game. He raised his club above his prisoners as a champion above the fallen opponent. Indeed, the cult of divine kingship was based on the understanding that the God-king was more than a man. Akhenaten's worship of the sun disk, the Aten, was not so much a new realm of thought, as a revision of traditional beliefs towards recognition of the unlimited power of the Sun-god. It should not be regarded as a sudden outburst of spiritual inspiration because, in a forever expanding world, religious concepts change. In Akhenaten's time sun worship was lifted from the suffocating cloak of accumulated ritual, spells, oracles and all the awesome journeys through monster-infested subterranean channels of the underworld. It was worship of the sun-disk in the open, calling on the Aten as the creator and preserver of all god's creatures, "...all men, herds and flocks, whatever is upon earth, creatures that walk upon feet, which soar aloft flying with their wings, the countries of Khor (Palestine and Syria) and of Kush (Sudan), and the land of Egypt..." is written in the much celebrated hymn ascribed to Akhenaten himself. That is why Akhenaten's naturalism broke with the overpowering formality of the past. The Pharaoh was often shown the same size as his people. He was a mortal, flesh of human flesh, bone of human bone. He was an ordinary man, a family man, who could delight in his daughters, eat a hearty meal, and demonstrate tender affection. Several features of the royal family were portrayed in an exaggerated fashion like this statuette's elongated skull, plump body, and the large side-lock that identifies her as an Amarna princess. The artists of the period portrayed children as children, not as miniature adults, and Akhenaten and Nefertiti's daughters, who appear in royal art with both parents, are frequently depicted nude. Nefertiti bore her husband several daughters who were titled "Beloved King's Daughters of His Flesh". The eldest was Meretaten, ("the Aten's Beloved"); another was Maketaten ("She Whom the Aten Protects"); and Ankhesenpaaten ("May She Live for the Aten") became Tutankhamun's wife, changing her name to Ankhesenamun when the worship of Amun-Re was reinstated, the city of Akhet-Aten levelled, and works of art destroyed.
