German curatorship of Nefertiti

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,482217,00.html

This article repeats the same story, but adds a section about Germany's curatorship of the Nefertiti bust: German authorities insist their ownership of Nefertiti is irreproachable -- and that their concerns are for the artifact's well-being. Last year, Dietrich Wildung, curator of the Altes Museum where Nefertiti is housed, conducted a number of tests on the bust. Using CAT scans, he was able to analyze the bust's composition with an unprecedented level of detail.
Once thought to be painted limestone, Wildung now thinks the bust is a limestone core covered with a layer of plaster or gypsum that ranges from four centimeters thick in some places to a scant millimeter on the queen's fine-featured face. 'That way the model could be adjusted and altered,' Wildung told Spiegel Online.
Indeed, a new lighting arrangement reveals fine wrinkles and slight bags under the queen's eyes and on her neck, a level of detail that the plaster made possible. . . . But Wildung claims the thin plaster layer rules out foreign travel. . . . From the Egyptian point of view, claims that the artifact is too fragile to move are undermined by an incident in 2003, when two Hungarian artists were allowed to use the sculpture to create a video installation intended for the Venice Biennale. (After complaints and sanctions from Egypt -- including a personal ban on Wildung's work there -- the display was called off.)"

See the above page for more details.

In the following piece, Wildung adds that the political situation is another factor that would make sending the bust an irrepsonsible act:

http://tinyurl.com/2urvao (canada.com)

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