Amarna Princess - Background and Preparation

Background and Preparation

In 1999, following some early successes, the Greenhalghs began their most ambitious forgery project yet. They bought the 1892 sale catalogue of the contents of Silverton Park, Devon, the home of the 4th Earl of Egremont, George Wyndham. While the fourth Earl was not known as a collector, previous earls had been: the Praxitelean "Leconfield Head", stands out even among the Greek antiquities at Petworth. One of the Wyndhams who acquired ancient sculptures from Rome might just have obtained, along with other pieces, the Amarna Princess. It was quite plausible then that George Wyndham had amassed a distinguished collection in his own new-built mansion at Silverton. Certainly the auction catalogue notes extended to pages.

Among the lots in the sale were a group lot comprising "a draped figure of a female, five marble statuettes and eight Egyptian figures." The vagueness of the catalogue description was not too surprising for the time, and if any such actual Amarna art had been there, it may well have remained unrecognised. Shaun Greenhalgh was a professional antique dealer and meticulous researcher, and must have been well aware of this. While he did not appear to have had access to the internet he was well used to the trade catalogues and art books, and is known to have worked from photographs. Further to the item's natural obscurity, there are only two other similar statuettes existing in the world. These are held in the Louvre and the Penn Museum.

In the event, taking full advantage of the vagueness of the auction notes Greenhalgh manufactured what became the Amarna Princess, a 52 cm statue, apparently made of a "stunning translucent alabaster." Done in the Egyptian Amarna style of 1350 BC, the statue represents one of the daughters of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, probable father and stepmother of Tutankhamun. Greenhalgh reputedly "knocked up" his copy in his shed in three weeks out of calcite, "using basic DIY tools and making it look old by coating it in a mixture of tea and clay". A copyist by inclination, his piece was most likely based directly on the known princesses, especially the one in the Louvre. A diagrammatic comparison shows just how close the similarities are, down to the missing limbs. The Amarna Princess being only somewhat taller, by 21 cm (8.3 in).