[An enigmatic eye in an enigmatic bust].

have read with interest the article published in the iconoraphic section of this Journal by Drs. Diez-Lage and González nd titled The enigmatic eye of Nefertiti.1 After publishing a eview on the topic in the February issue of the British Journal f Ophthalmology,2 I would like to make a few comments. Queen Nefertiti (c. 1370–1330 AC) was the Great Royal Wife f Akhenaton (Amenhotep or Amenophis IV), who was not general as the authors indicate but the tenth pharaoh of he XVIII Dynasty. The bust of Nefertiti, presently housed in he Neues Museum (not the Altes Museum) of Berlin, is not only acking the left iris but also the entire ocular globe. The artificial eyes made by ancient Egyptian sculptors ere frequently inlaid in metal for artistic purposes and anufactured with a white opaque quartz fragment (which epresented the sclera), with a circular rock crystal placed in he center to simulate the cornea. The pupil was drawn and ainted in the reverse. Apparently, Nefertiti’s anophthalmic avity, made of limestone and without any type of decoration r signs of manipulation, never housed an ocular prosthesis. detailed analysis thereof did not even reveal remains of the ax with which ancient Egyptian craftsmen adhered artificial yes to the anophthalmic cavity. Although there is no conensus to explain this archeological mystery, one of the most ccepted theories is that the ocular globe was never inserted ecause the famous bust was a model for official portraits used y Tutmosis, the master sculptor, to teach his students to work n the orbitary cavity.2 Quite recently, Henri Stierling, a well-reputed art historian, as questioned the authenticity of this famous bust. Accordng to this Swiss expert, who wrote dozens of books about ncient Egypt, the bust was sculpted in the Tell-el-Amarna ite (90 miles south of Cairo) where it was allegedly found in 912. Gerardt Marks, an artist in charge of testing the pigments pplied by ancient Egyptians in their sculptures, received from udwig Borchardt, the German archeologist in charge of the xcavation, a request to make the sculpture. However, when