I always worry when I start a new book. Is my subject of interest to a wide readership or – horrible thought – is it simply my own, self-indulgent obsession? With this book, all worries soon evaporated. The ‘Berlin bust’ which is believed to depict Queen Nefertiti is clearly a subject of interest to many people, and from the outset I have been overwhelmed by the support that I have received from friends, colleagues, students and complete strangers too numerous to mention individually. Thank you all.
The themes developed in this book were first presented in a lecture given to the Egypt Exploration Society in 2010, and refined for a lecture given for the Showcase Seminar series in the Manchester Museum in 2011. I would like to thank both organisations for their support. The delay in writing was caused by an unfortunate series of personal circumstances. I would like to thank all my editors at Profile Books – the late Peter Carson, Daniel Crewe, Penny Daniel and Cecily Gayford – as well as my copy-editor, Trevor Horwood, for their patience with what must, at times, have seemed like a never-ending project.
Campbell Price, Curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum, never allowed me to give up on Nefertiti. Carolyn Routledge and Angela Thomas, both former Curators of Egyptology and Archaeology at Bolton Museum, each provided helpful information about the Bolton Nefertiti replica. George Rothschild has generously taken the time to discuss his great uncle, Ludwig Borchardt, with me. ‘Michelle’, of Southern Artists, Forgers and Hackers, has discussed the creation of the Landis replica bust and Cosmo Wenman has shared his work on the Nefertiti 3D scan heist/hoax. Pauline Norris explained the importance of Thutmose’s horse blinker. Amanda Turnbull shared both her art and her library; Joseph Thimes shared his knowledge of DNA; and Dominique Leroux shared the fortuitous finding of a replica Nefertiti in Paris. Robin Snell explained the importance of her Nefertiti tattoo, while Kerry Webb provided random but important support, from thoughts on bald Disney villainesses to links to articles and television programmes, and encouraged me with a series of cheerful postcards when I was on the verge of giving up. My family have gone to extraordinary lengths to support my growing obsession with the Nefertiti bust. In particular my brother, Frank Tyldesley, volunteered (or was volunteered) to make a life-sized limestone replica, just so that I could get some idea of how the original might have been made. My husband, Steven Snape, supported me through my writing and accompanied me to many museums and art galleries on my quest to look at as many different forms of Nefertiti as possible. I am grateful to them all.