Seated Statuette of Sekhmet

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period

Date722-332 BCE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions7 1/8 x 1 11/16 x 2 11/16 in., 450 g (18.1 x 4.3 x 6.8 cm, 15 7/8 oz.)

Object number2018.010.540

Label TextSekhmet was the consort of the Memphite god, Ptah. Powerful goddesses like Sekhmet, Bastet, and Wadjet were often depicted as felines or feline-headed women. Each goddess acted as a daughter of the sun god Re, the “Eye of the Sun,” and often wore sun disks with uraei on their heads. They could be loving and protective mothers or vengeful and destructive goddesses.

In the myth “The Destruction of Mankind,” Sekhmet punishes humankind who had grown rebellious to the sun god Re. As a lioness, she wreaks havoc and nearly destroys humanity. Re relents but is unable to stop Sekhmet’s blood-thirsty killing spree. So, he floods the land with beer dyed to resemble blood, and Sekhmet laps up the red brew. Drunk, she turned into the peaceful cat Bastet and spared humanity.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed., Life and The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 35.

ProvenanceEx coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California, possibly purchased from Roger Fernand Galliano, Paris, France.

Status

Not on view

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