Portrait Inlay of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. Opaque turquoise glass; cast, cold-worked to refine the sculptural quality of the portrait and to create cavities for additional inlays for the eye and eyebrow.

The artist who created this inlay was part of a large group of workers who constructed and decorated the city of Amarna, the new capital of the Pharaoh Akhenaten (d. 1336 or 1334 BC). As this is a royal portrait, the inlay is of the highest aesthetic quality and craftsmanship. Inlays like this were used to decorate pieces of jewelry or furniture, or for relief sculpture. They were inset into carefully carved cavities, and formed parts of highly colorful figural compositions, in which parts or the entire figure were made of separate glass elements. The best surviving examples of glass inlays from this period are found in the artifacts preserved in the tomb of Tutankhamun. The works of art created during the reign of Akhenaten broke the long-standing traditional style of Egyptian art, which was idealized and severely formal. Human figures were always shown in the same manner, with few individualizing elements. While often called “naturalistic,” the works of the Amarna period also are highly stylized, in that the human forms seem to be exaggerated, with sagging bellies, thin arms and legs, sumptuous lips, long oval eyes, and high, carefully carved cheekbones. These physical characteristics are present in the inlay. The long neck, high cheekbone, full lips, and long slanted eye are typical of portraits of the ruling family in the Amarna style.