Gustave Lefebvre (17 July 1879 – 1 November 1957) was a French

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

. As inspector for Middle Egypt for the Egyptian Antiquities Service headed by

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia. ...

, he managed the

partage Partage, from the French word "partager" meaning "to share," was a system put in place to divide up ownership of excavated artifacts during the early part of the 20th century. This system was mostly notably employed in Egypt, Iraq, Cyprus, Syria, ...

Ludwig Borchardt Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and co ...

's excavations at el-

Amarna Amarna (; ar, العمارنة, al-ʿamārnah) is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site containing the remains of what was the capital city of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Ph ...

, Egypt, on 20 January 1913. Borchardt and Lefebvre had come to an agreement where the artifacts found the year before by Borchardt's team would be split between the German Oriental Company (which financed the excavation) and the country of Egypt "''à moitié exacte''", or 50-50. The

bust of Nefertiti The Nefertiti Bust is a painted stucco-coated limestone bust of Nefertiti, the Great Royal Wife of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten. The work is believed to have been crafted in by Thutmose because it was found in his workshop in Amarna, Egypt. It ...

, discovered in the sands of the studio of the sculptor Thutmose, and was a piece that Borchardt wanted for Germany. Recent evidence proves that Borchardt manipulated his way into keeping the bust. Borchardt first showed the Egyptian official a photograph of the bust "that didn't show Nefertiti in her best light". In the accompanying documents, the object was listed as a painted plaster bust of a princess. When Gustave Lefebvre came for inspection, the bust was tightly wrapped up in the bottom of a box. The document reveals that Borchardt claimed the bust was made of gypsum (a very low-grade material) to mislead the inspector. Borchardt was one of the leading Egyptologists in the world, and knew that the bust was actually made out of limestone. The bust was one of the artifacts at the top of the exchange list but was never asked for by the Egyptians in 1913. The bust of Nefertiti was granted to Germany according to the provisions of Law No. 14 of 1912, and is today a primary exhibition of the

Neues Museum The Neues Museum (English: ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles, it ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine lists the bust of Nefertiti as one of the world's top 10 plundered artifacts.

References

"Cairo Demands Clarification on Nefertiti Bust"
''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

''. 13 February 2009. *Raafat, Samir (1 March 2001)
"Maa'had E l Swisrry"
''Cairo Times''. via – Egy.com - Zamalek. * Boyes, Roger (11 February 2009)
"Secret note reveals how Germany smuggled Queen Nefertiti bust from Egypt"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. via – Egy.com - Zamalek. 1879 births 1957 deaths People from Bar-le-Duc French Egyptologists French hellenists École pratique des hautes études faculty Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Members of the French School at Athens Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy {{France-academic-bio-stub

See also

References