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Head of Sekhmet

c. 1391–1353 BCE
(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
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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.
Head of Sekhmet

Head of Sekhmet

c. 1391–1353 BCE

Egypt, Thebes(?), New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE)

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Head of Sekhmet

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