Born: Unknown, Egypt
Died: Unknown
Country most active: Egypt
Also known as: Nefert or Neferet
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Queen-Consort of Egypt. Nofret was the daughter of one king and the wife of another. Her husband was Sesostris II who ruled Egypt during the period known as the Feudal Age of Egypt. It was so called because the nobles had made themselves very powerful and ruled their great estates like petty kings.
It took, of course, a line of very strong Pharaohs to keep these noblemen in subjection to the State and at peace with one another. The period is therefore, one of more or less confusion, and details of the history of the time often elude one. It is even so with the character and life of Nofret. The queen was a woman of power and distinction. Indeed she bears a most unusual title. She is called the “ruler of all women,” and it is supposed by some archaeologists that she exercised certain administrative rights over the women of ancient Egypt during her time. As a beautiful memorial to her we have a handsome grey granite statue, the head of which is shown above. This statue is considered one of the great pieces of Egyptian art. Nofret is mentioned also in a papyrus of the time. Perhaps most unique of all is the reference made to her (and that with respect) upon a monument of a son-in-law.