Portrait Head of Queen Tiye with a Crown of Two Feathers

A conversation between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker in front of Portrait Head of Queen Tiye with a Crown of Two Feathers, c. 1355 B.C.E., Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, New Kingdom, Egypt, yew wood, lapis lazuli, silver, gold, faience, 22.5 cm high (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection at the Neues Museum, Berlin)

One of the most interesting women

in all of Egyptian history.

Began her life as the daughter of a bureaucrat,

but would marry the pharaoh of Egypt.

She would then be demoted upon his death

and would simply be the Queen Mother.

But her son would then elevate her status,

substantially, making her divine, making her a goddes.

So much of that history can bee seen

in this teeny sculpture of Queen Tiye.

There's a clear sense of her nobility,

even though she bagan in a relatively modest way

as a commoner, although of fairly high status.

She looks out and past us here,

and there's no doubt she's a queen.

She is completely unapproachable.

And we may also be getting a sense here

of what she looked like.

There seem to be some individual characteristics.

She seems to be a little bit older.

We can see lines extending below her nose

on either side of her cheek,

and there're some distinctive facial characteristics.

So perhaps we have a little bit of a window into

what she really looked like.

The face and neck are made out of yew wood, this beautiful dark wood.

The eyes are made out of ebony and alabaster

and then there are some other materials as well.

Gold and some of the semi-precious stone,

lapis lazure is visible just under the headdress

that seems to have been chipped away.

That's right, what we're seeing are in fact evidence

of these changes in Tiye's life.

Underneath the headdress, that we see her in now,

would have been a gold headdress that signified her status

as the queen, as the wife of the pharaoh.

And we can also see that in the two gold clips

that we see on her forehead

that are evidence of where that crown would have been worn.

There would have been a cobra placed there,

the insignia of royalty.

That was presumably removed when her husband died,

and she actually fell in status to that of Queen Mother.

But she was so important and so smart,

and her son depended on her so much

that in order to have her be able to actively participate in politics

and the affairs of the Royal Court,

he elevated her status to one of a goddess.

And that's when this headdress would've been added.

This would have been spectacular when it was first made.

Now, it simply looks a little bulbous,

but if you look a little bit to the back right of the skull

you can just make out some brilliant blue faience beads

that catch the light and really shimmer.

That would've covered the entire headdress

and so she would have looked regal and almost celestial,

appropriate to a goddess.

Her headdress extends upward

where we see horns, a solar disc and chief feathers.

Now, that solar disc may refer to the religion

founded by her son Akhenaten.

Akhenaten got rid of Egypt's traditional polytheistic religion

and established a monotheistic religion

centered around Aten who was symbolised by the sun.

The sculpture really does give us a sense of her importance,

her power, her son's respect for her,

and gives us just a little glimpse into the complexity

of Egyptian life at this high station.