Focus on this artwork and explore the Method of discovery.
The bust was discovered by a museum expedition funded jointly by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Harvard University, and under the contract of the time, such a fine piece would normally have found a home at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, this piece was awarded as thanks for the extensive work done by this expedition and the discovery of the intact royal tomb of Queen Hetepheres, who was Ankhhaf's aunt, a sister of his father. More recently, Zahi Hawass, the chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, has asked that this piece be repatriated to Egypt, as one of five key items belonging to Egypt's cultural heritage, a list which also includes the iconic bust of Nefertiti in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, a statue of the Great Pyramid architect Hemiunu in the Roemer-und-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim, Germany, and the Dendara Temple Zodiac in the Louvre in Paris.
Ankhhaf Harvard University Germany Zahi Hawass Hemiunu Nefertiti repatriated Egyptian Museum of Berlin Roemer-und-Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim Dendara Temple Zodiac Egyptian Museum Louvre bust Paris Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Hetepheres