Mutnofret

{{Short description|Ancient Egyptian queen of 18th Dynasty of Egypt}}

{{Hiero|Mutnofret|X1-G15-nfr-f:r:t|align=right|era=nk}}Mutnofret ("Mut is Beautiful"), also rendered as Mutneferet or Mutnefert, was a queen during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was a secondary wife of Thutmose I and the mother of his successor Thutmose II; Thutmose I's chief wife, however, was his sister Queen Ahmose, the mother of Hatshepsut.Dodson & Hilton 2004: 139; Gauthier 1912: 224, 226, 234.

Based on her title of King's Daughter,Gauthier 2012: 212; Dodson & Hilton 2004: 126, 139, add also King's Sister, but this seems to be unattested, although it could be inferred. she is likely to have been a daughter of Ahmose I and a sister of Amenhotep I, who married the latter's successor Thutmose I.Dodson & Hilton 2004: 126, 131 It is possible that she was also the mother of Thutmose I's other sons, Amenmose and Wadjmose.Robins 1987: 274; Tyldesley 1998; a further alleged son, Ramose, is considered a son of Ahmose I by Dodson & Hilton 2004: 126-127, 129. The connection of Thutmose I and Thutmose II to the earlier kings Ahmose and Amenhotep I (and also the mother of Wadjmose and Amenmose) was conjectured to have been Queen Ahmose in older and sometimes even current literature.For example, Gauthier 1912: 224, n. 3; Roehring et al. 2005: 7, 11, 30. However, the absence of the title King's Daughter among the titles of Queen Ahmose has been considered decisive in indicating she was not the daughter of an earlier king, and owed her primacy to being the sister (as indicated by her title King's Sister) of the new king Thutmose I, himself the son of non-reigning parents: his mother Senisonbe is titled only King's Mother.Gauthier 1912: 209; Dodson & Hilton 2004: 128-129. Note that Queen Ahmose need not have been Thutmose I's full sister: Robins 1987: 274. The admittedly rare attestation of the title King's Daughter for Mutnofret suggests it was she, not Queen Ahmose, who connected their husband Thutmose I to his immediate predecessors.

Mutnofret was depicted in the Deir el-Bahri temple built by her grandson Thutmose III; on a stela found at the Ramesseum; on the colossus of her son; and a statue of her bearing a dedication by Thutmose II was found in Wadjmose's chapel.Gauthier 1912: 226; Dodson & Hilton 2004: 139 This suggests that Mutnofret was still alive during her son's reign.Shaw 2000: 231, 236.