Cleveland Museum of Art

Head of Sekhmet

Date

c. 1391–1353 BCE

Medium

granodiorite

Culture

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

Department

Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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

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