Recumbent Lion
Description
Object Label: The Egyptians used leonine images for a variety of purposes, including depictions of lions themselves, as figures of powerful goddesses such as Wadjet, Bastet, or Sakhmet, or as symbols of the king. Artisans had to add specific iconographic details to help the viewer understand what lilian" was meant. Recent research has demonstrated that sculptures such as this, showing a recumbent lion with his head turned and his paws crossed, perhaps always represent the king. Caption: Recumbent Lion, 305–30 B.C.E.. Limestone, 13 3/4 x 11 x 27 3/8 in., 144 lb. (35 x 28 x 69.5 cm, 65.32kg) 33.382a: 89 lb. (40.37kg) 33.382b: 55 lb. (24.95kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 33.382a-b. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A recumbent stone lion sculpture lying on its side with its head raised and paws extended.
The image shows a single, recumbent lion figure carved in light-colored stone. The lion’s body is stretched out in a horizontal pose; the front legs rest forward near the center of the base, while the hindquarters taper toward the left edge of the image. The head is turned slightly to the viewer’s right, with simplified facial features including rounded eyes and a prominent muzzle. The mane is indicated by shallow, stylized carving around the neck and head. A horizontal seam or fracture line runs across part of the torso and base area, suggesting damage or joining points. No clear hieroglyphic, Greek, or other script is visible anywhere on the lion or its base in this image.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 33.382a-b tier-2
- BKM-Object 3320 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.