Head of Princess Meritaten

This limestone head depicts Princess Meritaten, eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, carved around 1345 BC during the Amarna period. The portrait shows the distinctive elongated skull characteristic of Amarna art, whether reflecting a real physical trait or the artistic conventions imposed by her father's radical religious reforms.

Meritaten grew up at Akhenaten's new capital of Amarna (Akhetaten), where artists broke with centuries of tradition. Faces became longer and more expressive, bodies thinner and more naturalistic. Meritaten later became great royal wife to Smenkhkare, one of the brief pharaohs between Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.

The Amarna period (c. 1353-1336 BC) produced some of ancient Egypt's most distinctive art. When the court returned to Thebes after Akhenaten's death, his city was abandoned and his monuments destroyed. Surviving Amarna portraits like this one are rare witnesses to a radical artistic moment.