Calling the Queen's Authenticity into Question

the main article  by By Christoph Seidler :

Borchardt, rather than exposing the naiveté of his royal guests, elected to keep the truth to himself.Of course they copied her.Museum visitors can look over the shoulders of specialists to see how the secrets of these old artifacts are revealed using infrared spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and microscopy.

A bit of wax was allegedly found in Nefertiti's right eye.One might think that the debate is superfluous -- that the matter could be settled simply by testing the bust's age.

Despite such doubts, Stierlin refuses to back down.A sign next to the lab workers reads "Questions Welcome.He says that when Johann Georg, a Saxon duke, visited the tomb in the Egyptian city of Amarna, they were immediately taken by the beauty of the bust.That, though, is a difficult prospect.The piece, which bears inventory tag number 21300, is one of the most famous pieces of art from ancient Egypt.Until then, one could only see Nefertiti as she was depicted on bas reliefs," Stierlin told SPIEGEL ONLINE.At the Altes Museum on Berlin's Museum Island, a brief film runs in a silent loop on a monitor.

Borchardt wanted to see her in three dimensions.As to whether Nefertiti is a fake, I can't say for sure," says Ari Hartog, the curator of the Gerhard Marcks Haus, an art museum in Bremen devoted to the works of the famous 20th century German sculptor.At the same time, though, his employers have a clear interest in disproving Stierlin's theory.If the Nefertiti bust is indeed fake, says Hartog, "it's definitely not something made by Marcks.It was obtained in 1920 by Friedrich Rathgen, the chemist who first directed the laboratory that now bears his name.And Henri Stierlin, 

a Geneva-based author, certainly does have a few questions.That's an epistemological problem," Stefan Simon told SPIEGEL ONLINE.Simon is a material scientist who directs the Rathgen Research Laboratory, which belongs to the association of national museums in Berlin.The Nefertiti bust itself is only a few steps away.Stierlin's theory has been lent credence by the fact that Borchardt's expedition included someone named Marcks.Still, the wax sample's path from the bust's eye to the laboratory was long.Stierlin is interested in the Nefertiti copy, 

and he's not referring to the white model of the bust shown in the film flickering across the monitor.You Can Prove A Fake, But Not An Original Dietrich Wildung, the curator of the Berlin's Egyptian Museum -- and a long-time friend of Stierlin -- is even more emphatic in his dismissal of Stierlin's ideas.When it was carbon-dated a few years back, scientists concluded that might be more than 3,300 years old.The monitor is part of a current display at the museum, one which includes four work stations set up in a large, glass cubicle to show just how complex conserving great works of ancient art is.His suspicions run deeper.For decades,

people have marvelled at the bust of Nefertiti.Museum scientists are eager to prove these theories wrong, but the mysterious statue might not be ready to reveal her secrets yet.Hartog, though, says it was most likely the artist's brother.Radiocarbon (C-14) dating measures the decay of radioactive carbon isotopes, necessitating samples of organic material.

As a scientist, Simon's main allegiance is to the evidence.Unfortunately it's not so simple.In a recently published book, Stierlin claims that Berlin's famous Nefertiti bust -- one of the prides of the city's world-class collection of museums -- is actually a fake.For decades, Rathgen's sample lay in a small specimen bag in the museum before finally being dated, opening the door to doubt.It's dishonest to display this object when you know it's not authentic," Stierlin insists.We would not put an even remotely questionable object on display for 700,000 visitors to see every year," Wildung says.You can prove a fake, but you can't prove originals.

And its further complicated by the fact that, the closer one considers the Nefertiti bust, the clearer it becomes that very little is known about it.Nefertiti, though, is largely free of such material.It shows laboratory workers handling a replica of the Nefertiti bust built to test a new portable base for it.Art historians have their doubts about this theory.You can see it clear as day.Stierlin claims that Ludwig Borchardt, the leader of the excavation that found Nefertiti,

had the sculptor Gerhard Marcks make the bust in 1912 to serve as a display piece for a necklace that had recently been unearthed.And in recent weeks, its authenticity has been the subject of much debate.Now, some scholars say it's a fake -- made to hold a necklace.Stierlin's theory sounds exciting -- and it has proven adept at generating headlines.