The pharaoh of pop: Egyptian bust a dead ringer for Michael

Talk about HIStory. Chicago is abuzz with the sudden discovery of an ancient Egyptian statue that looks uncannily like the late king of pop — or perhaps it should be pharaoh of pop — in the collection of one of the most respected natural history museums in the United States. Though it’s too soon to tell whether the bust will boost The Field Museum’s attendance, many visitors among the usual August throng this week want nothing more than to stand face-to-face with the New Kingdom doppelganger of superstar musician Michael Jackson, who died last month.In an interview Thursday, Jim Phillips, the museum’s curator of the Near East and North Africa, said, “It’s beyond belief. People see my badge, and they’re constantly asking me, ‘Where’s Michael Jackson’s face?’ ” Though the bust has been on display in a non-prominent area of The Field Museum’s Inside Ancient Egypt exhibit since 1988, the eerie resemblance between statue and icon was first made known to the wider public on Wednesday in a newspaper column by Michael Sneed of the Chicago Sun-Times. “The idea that people are coming in specifically to see if they can recognize Michael Jackson is a little disturbing to me, but … if that’s what gets people interested in Egypt, interested that in 1500 B.C. people were carving these lovely faces in limestone, that’s OK with me, too,” Phillips said. The curator said he’d never noticed the resemblance before, nor had anyone brought it to his attention. “I was never a follower of Michael Jackson, so no, I had never even thought about it.” As far as anyone knows, Jackson himself never visited The Field Museum and was not aware of the bust.The museum has had the statue in its collection since 1899. It depicts a woman — “There’s no question it’s a woman,” Phillips said, especially considering she’s wearing eye makeup — who lived in Egypt sometime between 1550 and 1050 B.C. Beyond that, she’s as anonymous as Jackson was famous. Before her nose was broken off by an anti-idolatry Christian or Muslim, however, it was a feature Jackson evidently would have coveted: a “ski-jump, European” shaped nose as opposed to an African one. An ancient Egyptian bust at The Field Museum in Chicago has been bewitching recent visitors thanks to its resemblance to a certain late pop star, NBC Chicago reports: The spitting image limestone sculpture has been on display at the museum since 1988, but recently started drawing attention because of its likeness to Jacko — complete with disfigured nose.Unfortunately the bust, which was carved sometime between 1550 B.C. and 1050 B.C., is of a woman and MJ likely never had the chance to see the statuette.