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Decorated balustrade fragment

Amarna, Great Palace
Reign of Akhenaten, 1353 - 1336 B.C.
Crystalline limestone;
h. 102 cm, w. 51 cm, d. 15 cm
Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Egyptian gods were traditionally represented as humans or animals or a combination of the two. One of Akhenaten's most revolutionary acts was to represent his god, Aten, as an abstract sun disk with outstretched rays, which often ended in tiny hands. In this typical scene, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their daughter Meretaten worship Aten. This carving was strongly influenced by the early, extreme version of the Amarna style, in which faces are elongated and figures more strongly distorted.

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