Nefertiti is perhaps best remembered for the painted limestone bust depicting her. Many consider it one of the greatest works of art of the pre-modern world.

Sometimes known as the Berlin bust, it was found in the workshop of the famed sculptor Thutmose. This bust depicts her with full lips enhanced by a bold red.

Although the crystal inlay is missing from her left eye, both eyelids and brows are outlined in black. Her graceful elongated neck balances the tall, flat-top crown which adorns her sleek head.

The vibrant colors of her necklace and crown contrast the yellow-brown of her smooth skin. While everything is sculpted to perfection, the one flaw of the piece is a broken left ear.

Because this remarkable sculpture is still in existence, it is no wonder why Nefertiti remains 'the Most Beautiful Woman in the World.'

Nefertiti was the first and favored wife of the King Akhenaten (Ahmenhotep !V) of the 18th Dynasty and is really more famous today than the king.

The eighteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII)^[1] (c. 1550-c. 1292 BCE) is perhaps the best known of all the dynasties of ancient Egypt. As well as boasting a number of Egypt's most famous pharaohs, it included Tutankhamun,, Akhenaten's son. 

As well as Tutankhamen, famous pharaohs of Dynasty XVIII include Hatshepsut (1479 BCE – 1458 BCE), longest-reigning queen-pharaoh of an indigenous dynasty.

Akhenaten is often called the "heretic" king because he forbade the worship of the many Egyptian dieties in favor of the worship of a single object, the sun disc, Aten.  By all accounts, Nepfertiti joined enthusiastically in this monotheistic worship.
Akhenaten even moved the royal palace from Thebes down the river to pan>

In artwork, her status is evident and indicates that she had almost as much influence as her husband.

For example, she is depicted nearly twice as often in reliefs as her husband, at least during the first five years of his reign. Indeed, she is once even shown in the conventional pose of a pharaoh smiting his (or in this case, her) enemy.

Little is known of her family.  She may or may not have been of royal blood.  History records that she was the sister of Mutnojme, the daughter of the army officer, and later pharaoh, Ay.

But while Mutnojme's image appears prominently in the tomb of Ay, Nepfertiti never lays claim to be the daughter of a king (pharoah).
If she was indeed the daughter of Ay, it was probably not by his chief wife. 
Together, we know that Akhenaten and Nefertiti has six daughters, though it was probably with another royal wife called Kiya that the king sired his successors, Smenkhkare and Tutankhamun. Nefertiti also shared her husband with two other royal wives named Mekytaten and Ankhesenpaaten, as well as later with her probable daughter, Merytaten.
Undoubtedly, Akhenaten seems to have had a great love for his Chief Royal wife. They were inseparable in early reliefs, many of which showed their family in loving, almost utopian compositions.
At times, the king is shown riding with her in a chariot, kissing her in public and with her sitting on his knee. One eulogy proclaims her:
 "And the Heiress, Great in the Palace, Fair of Face, Adorned with the Double Plumes, Mistress of Happiness, Endowed with Favors, at hearing whose voice the King rejoices, the Chief Wife of the King, his beloved, the Lady of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, May she live for Ever and Always"
Towards the end of Akhenaten's reign, Nefertiti disappeared from historical Egyptian records. For a number of years, scholars thought that she had fallen from grace with the king, but this was actually a case of mistaken identity.
It was Kiya's name and images that were removed from monuments, and replaced by those of Meryetaten, one of Akhenaten's daughters. It has been suggested, though there is no hard supporting evidence, that by year twelve of Akhenaten's reign, and after bearing him a son and possibly a further daughter, Kiya became too much of a rival to Nefertiti and that it was she who caused Kiya's disgrace.
It is possible that Nefertiti disappearance a number of years after that of Kiya's simply meant that she died around the age of thirty, though there are controversies on this matter as well.
 It may not be simple coincidence that, shortly after Nefertiti's disappearance from the archaeological record, Akhenaten took on a co-regent with whom he shared the throne of Egypt.
This co-regent has been a matter of considerable speculation and controversy, with a whole range of theories.. One such theory puts forward the idea that the co-regent was none other than Nefertiti herself in a new guise as a female king following the lead of women such as Sobkneferu and Hatshepsut.
 Another theory is that there were actually two co-regents, consisting of a male son named Smenkhkare, and Nefertiti under the name Neferneferuaten, both of whom adopted the prenomen, Ankhkheperure.
 Undoubtedly, like her husband who was originally named Amenhotep, she too took the new name, Neferneferuaten to honor the Aten (Neferneferuaten can be translated as "The Aten is radiant of radiance [because] the beautiful one is come" or "Perfect One of the Aten's Perfection").
Indeed, she may have even changed her name prior to her husband doing so, but rather this means she also served as co-regent is questionable.
 Some scholars are considerably adamant about Nefertiti assuming the role of co-regent, and even serving as king for a short time after the death of Akhenaten.
 One such individual is Jacobus Van Dijk, responsible for the Amarna section of the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. He believes that Nefertiti indeed became co-regent with her husband, and that her role as queen consort was taken over by her eldest daughter, Meryetaten (Meritaten).
 If this is true, then Nefertiti may have even taken up residence in Thebes, as evidenced by a graffito dated to year three in the reign of Neferneferuaten mentioning a "Mansion of Ankhkheperure".
 If so, there could have been an attempt made at reconciliation with the old cults. He also suggests that Smenkhkare might have also been Nefertiti, ruling after the death of her husband, with her own daughter acting in a ceremonial role of "Great Royal Wife".
However, other scholars are equally adamant against Nefertiti ever having been a co-regent or ruling after her husband's death. They believe she simply died in about the fourteenth year of the king's reign.