Head and Shoulders of a Sphinx of Hatshepsut

Head and Shoulders of a Sphinx of Hatshepsut

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fragmentary sphinx represents the female pharaoh Hatshepsut. Portions of six granite sphinxes were discovered during the Museum's excavations in the area of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri in Western Thebes. A nearly complete example (31.3.166) is on display in gallery 131. This sphinx still retains substantial blue paint on the royal beard, traces of yellow paint on the pleats of the nemes-headcloth, and small amounts of paint around the eyes. A smaller sphinx in a different style is also owned by the Museum (31.3.94).

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head and Shoulders of a Sphinx of HatshepsutHead and Shoulders of a Sphinx of HatshepsutHead and Shoulders of a Sphinx of HatshepsutHead and Shoulders of a Sphinx of HatshepsutHead and Shoulders of a Sphinx of Hatshepsut

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.