Colossal Sphinx of Hatshepsut, Early 18th Dynasty, joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, (1479-1458 B.C.), Granite, H. 164 cm (64-5/8 in.), W. 90 cm (35-/8 in.), D. 343 cm (11 ft. 3 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1931

NEW YORK.-Two magnificent statues of Hatshepsut – a woman who ruled ancient Egypt as a pharaoh – are on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this summer, in advance of the re-opening of the Museum’s Hatshepsut Gallery later this year. It was announced recently in Cairo that Hatshepsut’s mummy – long thought to be lost – has been identified.
A colossal sphinx of the female pharaoh is displayed in the Great Hall, the formal entrance to the Museum, near the galleries where Egyptian art is displayed. Carved from granite and measuring more than eleven feet in length, the sculpture was reconstructed from excavated fragments. Its monumental size suggests the grand scale of the works commissioned by Hatshepsut for her temple. At the end of July, the work will be moved to the Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing, where a life-size granite statue showing Hatshepsut as female king is already on view. (The Temple of Dendur, an actual Egyptian cult temple from ca. 15 B.C., is one of the Museum’s most popular destinations.) The sculpture shows a seated young woman, dressed in the sleeveless sheath and jewelry that were typical attire for women, wearing the headcloth and uraeus (sacred cobra) of a king. Lire la suite http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=20995

Hatshepsut as Female King (detail), Early 18th Dynasty, joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, (1479-1458 B.C.), Granite, H. 167 cm (65-3/4 in.), (head and lower parts) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1929 (29.3.3). (torso) Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden. Photograph by Peter Jan Bomhof and Anneke de Kemp.