Skip to main content

Primary sourceSculptureAmarna period

Statuette of Akhenaten and Nefertiti

Unknown Amarna artist · Amarna period

A painted limestone statuette from the Amarna period showing Akhenaten and Nefertiti standing side by side holding hands.

This ancient statuette depicts Nefertiti standing hand in hand with Akhenaten, emphasizing her close association with him.

Ask Queen Nefereti about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Painted limestone statuette of a pharaoh and queen standing side by side holding hands. Both wear tall white crowns with uraeus cobras. The man is bare-chested with a pleated kilt, the woman wears a long pleated dress and a collar.
Statuette of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, limestone, Amarna period. Louvre, Paris. Photograph by Miguel Hermoso Cuesta.

About this source

What it is

This is a photograph of an ancient painted limestone statuette from the Amarna period of Egypt, held at the Louvre. It shows a pharaoh and a queen, understood to be Akhenaten and Nefertiti, standing together and holding hands. Both wear tall white crowns with the uraeus cobra symbol; the king is bare-chested in a pleated kilt, and the queen wears a long pleated dress and collar.

Why it matters

Images like this one, showing the royal couple standing together as equals holding hands, were unusual in Egyptian royal art and reflect the distinctive artistic style of the Amarna period, which Nefertiti and Akhenaten helped shape. It highlights how closely Nefertiti was linked with her husband's public image and authority.

Look closer

  • What does the pose of holding hands suggest about how the couple wanted to be portrayed?
  • Why might both figures be shown wearing the same type of crown?
  • What traces of the original paint can still be seen, and what might that tell us about how it originally looked?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Queen Nefereti on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Queen Nefereti sources

Meet the AI Queen Nefereti →
Painted limestone bust of an Egyptian queen wearing a tall blue crown with a red and green band and a gold-colored brow band. The eyes are inlaid with dark outlines, and the bust rests on a dark base against a black background.Sculpture

Primary source

Bust of Queen Nefertiti

Thutmose · c. 1345 BC

Black-and-white photograph of a painted bust of a woman with a tall flat-topped crown, side-facing, on a dark rectangular pedestal set on a pale plinth. The collar has striped and patterned bands.Sculpture

Primary source

Figure of Nefertiti

Close-up detail of an Amarna limestone relief. A seated woman wearing a tall flat-topped crown is at right, with a sun disc and rays above. At left, a smaller figure with a child's head is seated near her, and carved hieroglyphs fill the background.Sculpture

Primary source

Akhenaten and His Family

c. 1352 BC

Photo of a curved, blue glazed ceramic fragment with white body edge, covered in raised concentric ring motifs with dots. Two holes pierce the piece near its center, with a scale bar along the bottom.Sculpture

Primary source

Relief Fragment Showing the Blue Crown of Nefertiti

Black-and-white line drawing of columns of Egyptian hieroglyphic text arranged in vertical lines, with cartouches visible, copied from a wall inscription. This is a facsimile of the Great Hymn to the Aten.Document

Primary source

Great Hymn to the Aten

Akhenaten · c. 1350 BC

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Queen Nefereti now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions