Statue of Sakhmet

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Statue of Sakhmet

Place of OriginEgypt, from the Temple of Mut at Karnak

DateDynasty 18 (1570-1340 BCE), 1397-1360 BCE

DimensionsH: 23 in. (58.4 cm)

MediumGranodiorite.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Miss Edith Morgan

Object number

1927.152

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

Label TextA powerful goddess of war, vengeance, and protection, Sakhmet was generally depicted with a human body and the head of a wigged lioness. The original location of these figures is not certain, but they probably lined and guarded part of a processional axis leading to one of the great New Kingdom temples at Thebes. These include the majestic temple at Luxor dedicated to Amun-Re, high god of the sun. Its main approach is guarded by sphinxes, which combine the recumbent body of a lion with the head of a pharaoh. At nearby Karnak, the entrance to the gigantic temple of Amun-Re is lined with another type of guardian figure (see photographs): the wigged head of a ram combined with the body of a lion, which supports an image of a pharaoh. Similarly, many seated sculptures of Sakhmet still stand in place at Karnak’s Temple of Mut, the goddess wife of Amun-Re.Published ReferencesBulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 1919, Part II (gives full particulars on such statues).Comparative ReferencesSee also Simpson, William Kelly, "A Horus-of-Nekhen Statue of Amenhotep III from Soleb," Bulletin Museum of Fine Arts Boston, vol. 69, no. 358, 1971, p. 160 and note 14, p. 164.

cf. Lythgoe, A.M., "Statues of the Goddess Sekhmet," Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 14, no. 10, Oct. 1919, pt. 2, pp. 1-23.

cf. "Egyptian Antiquities," Bulletin Museum of Fine Arts Boston, vol. 1, no. 3, 1903, p. 17.

cf. Smith, WIlliam Stevenson, Ancient Egypt as represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 4th ed., Boston, 1960, p. 130, fig. 81.

cf. Fine antiquities including the Mrs. Albert D. Lasker Collection, London, Christies, Dec. 12, 1990, no. 230.