The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Head of Sekhmet

Head of Sekhmet

c. 1391–1353 BCE
(?), New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE)
granodiorite
Overall: 33.4 x 31.5 x 32 cm (13 1/8 x 12 3/8 x 12 5/8 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1916.2011
Location: 107 Egyptian

Did You Know?

Amenhotep III may have dedicated 730 statues of Sekhmet, two for each day of the year.

Description

This lioness head once belonged to a grand statue of the goddess Sekhmet, "the powerful one," probably seated and wearing a tight dress. Possibly appealing to her healing aspect, Pharaoh Amenhotep III, often described as “beloved of Sekhmet,” commissioned and dedicated hundreds of large granodiorite Sekhmet sculptures in his Theban mortuary temple. Thus, this head likely comes from Thebes, perhaps later moved across the Nile—like many such sculptures—to the temple of Mut, a related deity, at Karnak. Behind her stylized ruff, Sekhmet wears a wig, once crowned with a sun disk and uraeus, the stylized cobra symbolizing royal or divine power.
  • Presumably Thebes. Purchased from Paul Mallon. Formerly in the collection of Comte Le Marois, Normandy ("For the Egyptian Head of Lion, it comes from the own collection of Comte Demaroix [sic]," letter from Mallon, 1 March 1916, CMA Archives)
  • “Closing Days of the Inaugural Exhibition.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 3, no. 3 (1916): 1–4. Fig. 23. www.jstor.org
    "Current Exhibitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 1 (1917): 4-8. Mentioned: p. 12 www.jstor.org
    "Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 2 (1917): 26-37. Mentioned: p. 27 www.jstor.org
    Williams, C. W. "The Egyptian Collection in the Museum of Art at Cleveland, Ohio," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 5 (1918), p. 278.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Mentioned and Reproduced: 56 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 68 archive.org
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Pp. 232-233, cat. 167.
  • Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017).
    The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
    CMA 1916, no. 44, p. 209, pl. 335
  • {{cite web|title=Head of Sekhmet|url=false|author=|year=c. 1391–1353 BCE|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.2011