From Hatshepsut to Neferure: W1376

This time last year, I had the chance to examine a limestone fragment (W1376) that had been kept in the Egypt Centre store (fig. 1). Based on an old black and white photograph and the description of the object in the Egypt Centre catalogue, I requested the relief for a handling session on the art of the Middle Kingdom. W1376 had been labelled as a Middle Kingdom relief, perhaps based on the suggestion of Bernard Bothmer (1912–1993), a noted authority on ancient Egyptian art, who visited the Wellcome Museum (the precursor to the Egypt Centre) in the late 1980s. Bothmer had proposed a Twelfth Dynasty date in a letter written to Kate Bosse-Griffiths (1910–1998) in 1992. Upon seeing the relief, my immediate view was that it originated from the Eighteenth Dynasty memorial temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari.

Fig. 1: W1376

W1376 is an irregularly shaped limestone fragment measuring 49 cm in height and 37 cm in width. The front (fig. 2) of the fragment contains the head of a figure whose face is now missing, with the carving of the eye displaying a long cosmetic line and low brow. The figure wears an ibs-wig with echeloned curls that completely cover the ears. The head is adorned with a sšd-diadem, knotted at the back in the shape of two lotus flowers with double ribbons. An uraeus entwines the diadem on the forehead. Behind the head are the remains of a fan possibly held by a personified-ʿnḫ. Additionally, the tips of three feathers are preserved in the top left, belonging to the wing of a vulture that would have hovered above. This iconography clearly indicates that the head belongs to a royal person!

Fig. 2: Front of W1376

One of the keys to identifying the figure lies with the hieroglyphs above the head. While the inscription is only partially preserved, its formulaic nature means it can be tentatively reconstructed on the basis of numerous parallels (fig. 3). [dı͗ ʿnḫ ḏd wȝs nb] ȝw<t>-ı͗b.s [mi Rʿ] ḏt, “[Given all life, stability, and dominion], her heart being rejoiced [like Re] forever”. The vital sign here is the use of the feminine pronoun (), which immediately suggested to me that the head belonged to none other than Hatshepsut, the great female ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The press release issued by the Egypt Centre stating such was picked up by many major news outlets including the BBC. Yet by the time this press release was issued, I had already determined that the head actually depicted someone far more elusive.

Fig. 3: Proposed reconstruction of the hieroglyphs

What I had initially missed were the traces of an erased modius, which is still present upon the head of the figure (fig. 4). The modius, which confirmed that the figure was female, is most commonly associated with the God’s Wife of Amun. Yet while Hatshepsut held the title of God’s Wife of Amun, she had already relinquished this office in favour of her daughter, Neferure, by the time the work on her memorial temple at Deir el-Bahari had commenced. Neferure is commonly shown wearing the ibs-wig with sšd-diadem and a modius in the exact same manner as on the Swansea fragment. In fact, six of the eight scenes of Neferure at Deir el-Bahari were carefully modified to instead represent Hatshepsut’s parents Iahmes or Thutmose I. In particular, the modius was erased and the ibs-wig modified into a vulture cap when representing Iahmes. It is the erasure of the modius on W1376 that indicates to me that the relief instead depicts Neferure!

Fig. 4: Drawing of W1376 by Felicitas Weber

The reverse of the upper part of W1376 depicts the face of a nobleman with a short beard carved in raised relief. While the lower fragment is 4.5 cm deep, the upper fragment is only 3 cm, confirming that the face was only carved after W1376 had been cut from the wall. This suggests that W1376 had been specifically cut into two pieces so that the reverse of the upper fragment could be used to carve a new face for the original figure (fig. 5), an action that also explains the unusually rounded shape of the upper fragment. When this adjustment took place and who was responsible is unknown, but it was likely done by a dealer, auctioneer, or previous owner in order to increase both the monetary and aesthetic value of the object. Intriguingly, the Egypt Centre possesses a plaster cast of the carving on the reverse (EC1288).

Fig. 5: Photoshopped image of W1376 with reworked head

While the exact placement of the relief within the temple at Deir el-Bahari is currently unknown, it seems likely that it came from the Upper Courtyard. Since the identification of this relief, it has been put on display in the House of Life at the Egypt Centre. This past week it was used again for a handling session on ancient Egyptian art and architecture. A full study on W1376 has been submitted for publication and is currently under review.

Bibliography:
Bierbrier, M. L. (2012) Who Was Who in Egyptology. London: The Egypt Exploration Society. 4th edition.
Kitchen, K. A. (1963) ‘A Long-lost Portrait of Princess Neferurē’ from Deir El-Baḥri’. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 49: 38–40.
Laboury, D. (2014) ‘How and Why did Hatshepsut Invent the Image of Her Royal Power?’. In Creativity and Innovation in the Reign of Hatshepsut: Papers from the Theban Workshop 2010, ed. J. M. Galán, B. M. Bryan and P. F. Dorman. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 69. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 49–91.
Myśliwiec, K. (1976) Le portrait royal dans le bas-relief du Nouvel Empire. Travaux du Centre d’Archéologie méditerranéenne de l’Académie polonaise des Sciences sous la direction de Kazimierz Michałowski 18. Varsovie: PWN - Éditions Scientifiques de Pologne.

Pawlicki, F. (2007) ‘Princess Neferure in the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari: Failed Heiress to the Pharaoh’s Throne?’. Études et travaux: Travaux du Centre d’archéologie méditerranéene de l’Académie polonaise des sciences 21: 109–127.

Szafrański, Z. E. (2007). ‘King (?) Neferure, Daughter of Kings Tuthmosis II and Hatshepsut’. Études et travaux: Travaux du Centre d’archéologie méditerranéene de l’Académie polonaise des sciences 21: 139–150.