Often dubbed the Mona Lisa of the ancient world, the bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti is as immediately recognisable as the pyramids and the Rosetta Stone. Yet almost everything about this sculpture is mysterious at best, or bitterly controversial at worst, from the context of its creation to questions surrounding its acquisition by the Berlin Museum.
Elizabeth Frood
A beautiful enigma
Joyce Tyldesley describes the beautiful sunworshipper, once dubbed the Mona Lisa of the ancient world

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