Head of a Ptolemaic Pharaoh

Basalt, H. 26 cm; W. 26.7 cm; D. 20.1 cm. 
Egypt 304–200 BCE. 
Anonymous Loan: 20.2012.

Head of a Ptolemaic Pharaoh
Basalt, H. 26 cm; W. 26.7 cm; D. 20.1 cm
Egypt, 304–200 BCE
Anonymous Loan: 20.2012

This head of a king, acquired in the late 1890s, was part of a larger than life-size sphinx, a common sculptural type that emphasized the pharaoh’s divine nature.

Bothmer, Bernard V., Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period. 700 B.C. to A.D. 100, New York 1960; no.114