Egyptian sanctuary entrances were often flanked by lions or sphinxes. This monumental granite lion was excavated in 1891 by the British Egypt Exploration Fund at ancient Herakleopolis Magna, about seventy miles south of Cairo. The site's main deity was the ram-headed god Harsaphes, and the lion may have guarded the entrance to his temple. Extant remains of the building date from the reign of Ramesses II (ca. 1279–1213 B.C.), which explains why the lion statue was exhibited as a Ramessid work from 1891 to 1964 at the McLean Museum and Art Gallery in Greenock, Scotland. Thanks to recent scholarship, however, the lion's spare, muscular detailing and suspended vitality can now be understood as characteristic of earlier, Old Kingdom sculpture. While numerous features, such as the high tail and the incised, semicircular objects grasped by the claws, are seen in most Old Kingdom lion images, the full modeling and the halolike face mane that forms a unity with the ears indicate a date early in the period.

The lion's muzzle was broken off in antiquity. The McLean Museum and Art Gallery replaced it with a stone muzzle that followed New Kingdom prototypes. After acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum, a new muzzle was fashioned that is more in tune with the early style of the piece.