Statuette of Sekhmet

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period

Date722-332 BCE

MediumBronze, gilding

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions14 13/16 × 2 15/16 × 2 13/16 in. (37.7 × 7.4 × 7.1 cm)

Object number2018.010.139

Label TextThis standing figure represents a lion-headed goddess, most likely Sekhmet, whose name means “The Powerful One.” Her attributes include a sun disk with a uraeus. Together they connect her with the sun god, Re, and emphasize her roles as his daughter, as the “Eye of the Sun,” and as protector of the king.

The goddess stands with arms at her side and is clothed in a gown to her ankles. The lioness wears bracelets and armlets and a multi-strand broad collar on her chest. Her head is covered by a combination of a tripartite wig and leonine mane. Her eyes were once inlaid. High-waisted torsos and long legs are typical for the Third Intermediate Period, along with finely detailed incision.
Exhibition HistoryMichael C. Carlos Museum, Veneralia 2019 Senuseret Collection Preview, May 18, 2019
Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesHôtel Drouot, Pairs, Collection Hirsch: antiquités égyptiennes, grecques et romaines (1921), lot 33. (by repute)

ProvenancePossibly ex coll. Hirsch. Possibly With Hotel Drouot, Paris, June 30, 1921, lot 33. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California, possibly purchased from Jean-Francois Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France.

Status

Not on view

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