Head of Sekhmet
Unknown Artist
c. 1391–1353 BCE
Medium
granodiorite
Dimensions
33.4 × 31.5 × 32 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Accession Number
1916.2011
About this artwork
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 Kar...