Statue of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, 1550–1525 BCE

Statue of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Ahmose, ca. 1550–1525 B.C.

Egyptian

Limestone; H. 11 in. (28 cm)

Rogers Fund, 1916 (16.10.224)

Queen Ahmose-Nefertari was the wife of Ahmose, first king of Dynasty 18. Probably the daughter of Kamose, last king of Dynasty 17, she wielded considerable influence for almost fifty years during the reigns of her husband and her son, Amenhotep I, and survived into the reign of Thutmose I. A posthumous cult in association with her son was established soon after her death and she served as the patron of the Theban necropolis and especially of the tomb builders of Deir el-Medina.
This beautifully detailed statue of the queen portrays her in a heavy wig adorned with the vulture headdress. A uraeus had originally been carved in place of the vulture head on her brow. Her costume, with heavy wig and close-fitting dress with broad shoulder straps, and her face, which is rather round and flat, are typical of queens of the earlier Middle Kingdom.

Metropolitan Museum of Art 16.10.224

Dodson, Aidan and Dyan Hilton. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. London- Thames and Hudson, 2004.