Nefertiti Missing Left Eye Analysis

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As its remarkable beauty, the most noticeable and mysterious puzzle about the Bust of Nefertiti is the missing left eye. There are two most discussed opinions about Nefertiti’s left eye. Nial Charlton indicated through The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology that the bust was a completed piece so that the left eye was not uncompleted by intention but was a representation based on the fact of the blindness of Nefertiti (184). According to the studying of history of ophthalmology by S. RY Andersen from Eye Pathology Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, eye disease was common in Ancient Egypt; and unlike other countries, eye disease was widely depicted by Egyptian artists (340, 343). Nonetheless, the most broadly held view about Nefertiti’s left eye lacking …show more content…
Dr. Hardwick classifies the treatment of eyes of Egyptian arts into two categories: the formal eye, and the naturalizing eye. The naturalizing eye, which is described “the outer canthus is not decorated with a cosmetic line, but instead may have a shorter pointed tail that extends the line of the upper eyelid. The eyebrow is shorter, usually narrower, and also finishes with a pointed end. Rather than following the line of the eye and the cosmetic line, the eyebrow is frequently more arched than the eye, and the two lines, if projected further, would converge”, and this type of eye is used to present as a part of the body (122). The parts of Nefertiti’s eyes and eyebrows are perfectly match the naturalizing eye which naturalized the bust and separate it away from other Egyptian busts. Dr. Foster from Yale University demonstrates that the naturalistic eyes benefit conveying religious information between solar ray and audience’s heart as a medium (91). All the striking traits were created by Thutmose, who had “a high level of achievement, consummate craftsmanship, and sophisticated understanding of his royal commissions”, wrote by Dr. Foster (93); furthermore, his modern-like concept at that period gave the life to the bust of Nefertiti which made her as one of the most