A Sphinx of Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri is one of the big tourist destinations on the West Bank at Luxor. It was initially excavated by the Met Museum in the 1920s, and they found quite a number of statues of Hatshepsut which had been smashed up.

These pieces were part of a statue of Hatshepsut as a sphinx, and were one of six similar statues found at the site – this one (acc. no.:31.3.167) and another more complete one ended up at the Met Museum as part of the way finds were divided up during this period.

You can see that the red granite was probably not actually that visible when the statue was first made – most of the paint that remains is blue, most obviously on the beard. There are also traces of yellow on the nemes headdress that Hatshepsut is wearing.

I also find the fragmentary nature of the piece makes it striking and more interesting to look at than a complete one would be – the juxtaposition of the shiny yet textured granite with the very smooth matte filler material draws the eye.