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And this brings us back to KV63, with its upper class coffins. Like the yellow faces meant to represent gilding, did the eye shape seek to portray a "royal marker" derived from Nefertiti's own eyes?

The final word is not yet in, but there seems to be a high probability that Nefertiti herself had eyes with epicanthic folds or eyes with a similar shape with descending inner canthi. Eyes of this type undoubtedly created what must have been quite a striking feature to all who saw her. This may have been passed along to some of her royal offspring. Moreover, in the sun cult that they fostered, both Nefertiti and her husband Akhenaten were the only ones through whom prayers could be directed to the solar god Aten. This divine or semi-divine status may have accounted for this eye shape being transformed into an artistic convention that was copied by high-ranking officials and subsequent rulers.