QUEEN NEFERTITI
1953 Issue Stamp

The Queen Nefertiti 1953-1956 issued stamps capture a moment in time and if a collector or someone interested in history looks deeper into the story surrounding the image that was used on a stamp, it seems that it can hold a deeper meaning for the time in history that the stamp was issued.
The stamp can be more than just as a small piece of paper conveying the amount of postage someone has paid.

This 200 mills. postage stamp from the stamps issued from Egypt in 1953 is an artistic rendering or the sculpture of Queen Nefertiti. As mentioned on livescience.com, Queen, “Nefertiti's face was carved in limestone by the court sculptor Thutmos, in 1340 B.C.”


It is noted in the topic “The Bust of Nefertiti” in an article on history.com that, “On December 6, 1913, a team led by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt discovered a sculpture buried upside-down in the sandy rubble on the floor of the excavated workshop of the royal sculptor Thutmose in Amarna. The painted figure featured a slender neck, gracefully proportioned face and a curious blue cylindrical headpiece of a style only seen in images of Nefertiti. Borchardt’s team had an agreement to split its artifacts with the Egyptian government, so the bust was shipped as part of Germany’s portion. A single, poor photograph was published in an archaeological journal and the bust was given to the expedition’s funder, Jacques Simon, who displayed it for the next 11 years in his private residence.” It is said that the sculpture is currently on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin, where it was originally displayed before World War II.

When an image is chosen for a national postage stamp, there is usually some history or meaning associated with the life of the person, the event, the building, structure, or place chosen. It brings up the question about the choice to feature Queen Nefertiti on the stamps. In the history.com article it also mentioned that she was, “One of the most mysterious and powerful women in ancient Egypt, Nefertiti was queen alongside Pharaoh Akhenaten from 1353 to 1336 B.C. and may have ruled the New Kingdom outright after her husband’s death. Her reign was a time of tremendous cultural upheaval, as Akhenaten reoriented Egypt’s religious and political structure around the worship of the sun god Aten.” In this article is stated that, “…the additional name “Neferneferuaten”—her full name meaning “Beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a Beautiful Woman has come.”

In an article on the stampaday.wordress.com website it states that, “Neferneferuaten Nefertiti (meaning “the beautiful one has come forth”)

As I browsed through the stamp collection I inherited from my grandfather, this blue/green stamp image of Queen Nefertiti caught my eye, which is why I wanted to draw my own artistic rendering of the stamp and a print is available on ETSY.

The brief history that is mentioned about her seems to show that she lived and possibly reigned through a time of change in the history of Egypt. I then wondered what the significance was for printing the stamps in 1953, since the sculpture was carved about 1340 B.C. and later found in 1913. I looked at the time in Egypt’s history when the stamps were issued, 1953.

It’s noted on Wikipedia, that in Egypt in 1952, [the] “Egyptian politician [Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussain], who served as the second President of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970.” “…led the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year.”

In an article on britinnica.com is stated that “The 1952 coup was fueled by a powerful but vague Egyptian nationalism rather than by a coherent ideology. It produced a regime whose initially reformist character was given more precise form by a domestic power struggle…”

Was the introduction of the 1953 stamp of Nefertiti a subtle symbol of the reform that was going to take place during the reign of Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussain, implying a symbolic similarity to reforms that took place during the reign of Nefertiti? Or could it have just been an image that had been overlooked for so many years throughout the postal service system in Egypt?

Interestingly, it is mentioned in the Wikipedia article that, “Nasser's father was a postal worker born in Beni Mur in Upper Egypt, and raised in Alexandria.”

The question comes to mind if there was an influence to utilize stamps and the postal system to make subtle proclamations, to the country and the world, of the changes that were planned, just as other countries had done in the past. Also, could the history in the region where the town Beni Murr resides, and the records of ancient Thebes, where Nefertiti was born, have played a role in the events that took place in the early 1950’s in Egypt? Are the changes in rulership in recent history, much different than the change of power and rulership that has happened thousands of years ago?

Whatever the reason was for the printing of Queen Nefertiti on the stamps, historians portray her beauty as an important characteristic during her lifetime and reign. The artist that created the stamp, rendered an incredible likeness of the sculpture on such a small piece of paper.

I tried to capture the same artistic expression in my drawing of the 1953 stamp, which I hope others will enjoy.
I have nearly twenty hours into the drawing.


REFERENCES

All the articles can be read in full length on these websites:

https://www.livescience.com/nefertiti-bust-3d-scan-revealed.html

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/nefertiti

https://stampaday.wordpress.com/2018/04/10/queen-nefertiti-and-her-famous-bust/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser

https://www.britannica.com/place/Egypt/The-revolution-and-the-Republic