Senenmut
Description
Object Label: Occasionally an innovative artist enhanced a traditional sculptural form. This statue of Senenmut—an important official during the joint reign of Queen Hatshepsut and King Thutmose III—appears in the classic kneeling pose known since the Fourth Dynasty (circa 2625–2500 B.C.E.). Old and Middle Kingdom kneeling statues show a subject with his hands resting on his thighs or holding a pair of tiny round vessels. The sculptor of this piece, however, depicted Senenmut presenting a complex object: a cobra resting in a pair of upraised arms, wearing cow horns with a sun-disk. Egyptologists interpret this image as a cryptogram of Hatshepsut’s throne name (Ma`at-ka-re). The sculptural form of a kneeling man holding an intricate symbolic image first appeared in statues of Senenmut and continued for hundreds of years. Perhaps this new type of statue was the product of Senenmut’s imagination, as interpreted by a skilled and receptive artist. Caption: Senenmut, ca. 1478–1458 B.C.E.. Granodiorite with granite vein, 18 3/4 × 7 × 11 1/2 in., 67.5 lb. (47.6 × 17.8 × 29.2 cm, 30.62kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 67.68. Tags Brooklyn Icons
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 seated/standing Egyptian statue figure holding a small object at the chest, shown in dark stone with incised details and garment lines.
The image shows a dark, polished stone sculpture of a single male figure in Egyptian style. The figure’s head and face are turned slightly to the viewer’s left, with a tripartite wig and distinct facial features. The body is wrapped in a kilt with clear horizontal fold lines. The left arm is held across the torso toward the front while the right arm supports/holds a small, rounded object or bundle near the chest. Incised line work and contour carving define the clothing and posture. The front of the pedestal/base bears what appear to be rows of shallow incised marks that may be hieroglyphic or decorative bands, but the individual characters are not legible at this resolution. No cartouches or clearly readable divine names are confidently identifiable from the provided image. The stone surface shows natural mottling and a slightly granular texture consistent with a granitoid rock.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 67.68 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3759 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.