Senwosret III as a Sphinx
A sphinx with a king's face on a lion's body, carved from a single block of banded gneiss: a statue of Senwosret III. Full commentary ↓
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Senwosret III as a Sphinx is a work by an unknown maker (ca. 1878–1840 B.C.) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the pictureOn the body of a recumbent lion with its forepaws stretched neatly forward sits the head of a king with a headcloth and beard. The stone is gneiss with dark gray and green mixed in bands, and its grain flows along the lion's mane and the curve of its body. Hieroglyphs are carved on the chest and the base. It is 73cm long and weighs more than 100kg.
BackgroundThe sphinx combines the strength of a lion with the intellect of the king, and it served as a guardian at temple entrances. This statue's face, too, has the lined, serious expression characteristic of Senwosret III, so it is interesting to view it alongside portrait heads of the same king. Smoothing such hard stone this finely in an age when the only tools were bronze was itself a display of skill.
Puzzle tipAs a puzzle, the gray background and the gray-green stone are similar, so finding the boundary is the key. Fix pieces with clear forms first, such as the king's face, the forepaws and the straight edges of the base, and connect the body along the direction of the stone's bands. 48 or 100 pieces is about right.
- Period
- Middle Kingdom
- Dynasty
- Dynasty 12
- Medium
- Gneiss
- Dimensions
- L. 73 × W. 29.5 × H. 42.5 cm, 114.3 kg (28 3/4 × 11 5/8 × 16
- Credit line
- Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1917
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
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