Famed Nefertiti bust a fake: expert

Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin, author of a dozen works on Egypt, the Middle East and ancient Islam, says in a just-released book that the bust currently in Berlin's Altes Museum was made on the orders of Germany archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt on site at the digs by an artist named Gerardt Marks... He said he believed it was made to test pigments used by the ancient Egyptians. The historian said the archaeologist had hoped to produce a new portrait of the queen wearing a necklace he knew she had owned and also carry out a colour test with ancient pigments found at the digs. But on December 6, 1912, the copy was much admired as an original work by a German prince and the archaeologist "couldn't sum up the courage to ridicule" his guests, Mr Stierlin said... "The bust has no left eye and was never crafted to have one. This is an insult for an ancient Egyptian who believed the statue was the person themself." He also said the shoulders were cut vertically in the style practised since the 19th century while "Egyptians cut shoulders horizontally" and that the features were accentuated in a manner recalling that of Art Nouveau. It was impossible to scientifically establish the date of the bust because it was made of stone covered in plaster, he said. "The pigments, which can be dated, are really ancient," he added.

This topic was posted 5/6/2009, just an update. And, no, it's not a fake. I suspect this ridiculous story (by someone who AFAIK has never examined the bust in person, much less scientifically) was floated as part of an attempt to get Germany to relinquish it to Egypt, which BTW doesn't have a moment of doubt that it is authentic.

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New scans of King Tut's tomb may reveal hidden chamber [...again...] [03/04/2016]
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Radar Finds Secret Chamber in King Tut's Tomb [11/29/2015]
King Tutankhamun's tomb: Evidence grows for hidden chamber [11/28/2015]
Who Made the Bust of Queen Nefertiti? Nefertiti mystery solved [11/13/2015]
Infrared Scans Show Possible Hidden Chamber in King Tut's Tomb [11/07/2015]
Fixing Tutankhamun's beard: 'unfortunately they used epoxy' [10/21/2015]
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INTERVIEW: Egypt's antiquities minister speaks on the search for Nefertiti in Tutankhamun’s tomb [10/05/2015]
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A different take on Tut [02/16/2014]
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Did Nefertiti have 'love affair' with Moses? [04/09/2005]
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First Lion Mummy Found in Tomb of King Tut's Wet Nurse [01/14/2004]
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Nefertiti mummy 'found in Egypt' [06/10/2003]
Found: Queen Nefertiti's Mummy [06/08/2003]
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Colossal head discovered in Egypt that could be Queen Nefertari [03/28/2002]
All The King's Men [10/09/2001]

One idea was that, when the Nefertiti head was recovered from the mine in which it had been stashed, was just one of the Nefertitis -- that a display copy had been hidden as well as the original. This odd claim persisted until the bust was examined using penetrating non-invasive technology, showing it had been carved, then plastered.

It has all the aspects of a real police investigation: methods, scenario, and form. This new encounter takes you into the mysteries of Nefertiti. Since its discovery in 1912, the beauty of the bust of Nefertiti has entered into legend and is still raising questions. Who is Nefertiti? Where does she come from? What’s her history? What were the circumstances of the discovery of her bust? Why has it been the object of so much desire since 1912? Is it a copy? What do science and the experts tell us? “It’s useless to describe it... you have to see it!” wrote Ludwig Borchardt, the German Egyptologist who discovered the bust of Nefertiti in Tell el Amarna in 1912. Since then, Nefertiti’s beauty has become legendary and raises a thousand questions. At 50 cm high and cut off vertically at the shoulders, the work is a rarity, “a miracle of equilibrium”. A century after its discovery, the bust is at the centre of several polemic debates. After years of research, Henri Stierin, a Swiss historian, puts forward the scandalous theory that the bust of Nefertiti is no more than an experimental copy! On the other hand, Zahi Hawass, Superintendant of Egyptian Antiquities is claiming its return and accuses Germany of the illegal export of a masterpiece. So, must Germany return this world-renowned bust? In the course of this archaeological investigation, Jamy and his guests try to answer the many questions that surround the bust of Nefertiti...
The mysteries of the Nefertiti bust | April 11, 2019 | Best Documentary

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