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hatshepsut.jpg (35058 bytes)

Statue of Hatshepsut
Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Dynasty 18, ca. 1473-1458 B.C.
Limestone (originally painted), h. 76 3/4 in.
Rogers Fund, 1929
29.3.2

Introduction to the Statue of Hatshepsut: Video clip

Traditionally, the rulers of Egypt were male. Consequently, when Hatshepsut assumed the titles and functions of king she was portrayed in royal male costumes. Such representations were political statements, not reflections of the way she actually looked. In this finely carved sculpture she sits upon a throne and wears the royal kilt and the striped nemes (NEM-iss) headdress with the uraeus (cobra) and is bare chested like a man. However, she does not wear the royal beard, and the proportions of her body are delicate and feminine.

Reading from the top down, the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the left side of the throne say "the good goddess" and "lady of the Two Lands" (Upper and Lower Egypt). On the right side Hatshepsut is described as the "daughter of Re." Small hemisphere glyphs (for "t") indicate the female gender of these royal titles. It is thought that while the main sanctuary of the temple was dedicated to the god Amun-Re, this sculpture of the queen was placed in that chamber on the south side of the temple, where Hatshepsut's personal funerary cult had its place.

A sense of royal dignity, composure, and permanence is created by the facial expression, the static pose, and the rectangular throne and high base from which the symmetrical and frontal figure emerges. Cracks in the face, neck, and torso indicate ancient damage sustained by the sculpture. In fact, only the head, forearms, and parts of the throne were excavated by the Museum archaeologists. The body had already been found in 1843-45 by a German expedition and became part of the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. The Berlin museum agreed to exchange the body of our statue for the body of a sphinx--also found by Metropolitan Museum archaeologists--that fit the head of a sphinx in their museum, and so it was possible to restore the Berlin and the New York statues to almost their original states. The left eye of the Metropolitan's seated Hatshepsut was recently restored by Museum conservators.

Notice: pose, costume, broken features

Discuss: what indicates this figure is a "king," what is missing from the front of the nemes crown, what looks Egyptian about the figure

Compare with: Sakhmet, Nikare and his family, and Stela of a Middle Kingdom official