Head of a Queen
Description
Object Label: The vulture was associated with several important goddesses. This sculpture depicts a so-called vulture cap: the bird’s oval body sits at the top of the wearer’s head and its outspread wings sweep down beside the face. The vulture’s tail is indicated in back, but its head has been replaced by a royal uraeus-cobra over the forehead. A queen would have worn such a headdress on top of a voluminous wig. The head shows some of the Middle Kingdom influence that is so pronounced in early Eighteenth Dynasty art under Ahmose and Amunhotep I. Other details—such as the shapes of the eyes and eyebrows—indicate that the head was carved later, to represent either the wife of King Thutmose III or his mother, Queen Isis. Caption: Head of a Queen, ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E.. Quartzite, 10 13/16 x 12 3/16 x 10 3/16 in. (27.5 x 31 x 25.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 65.134.3. (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 sculpted, life-sized head and upper shoulders of a queen in Egyptian style, shown with a wig and a nemes-like head covering.
The image shows a golden-brown stone sculpture representing a royal female head. The figure wears a structured headdress/wig that frames the face and falls at the back; a striped crown-like element is suggested by the carved banding over the forehead and temples. The facial features are idealized: downcast, heavy-lidded eyes; arched brows; a straight nose; and a closed mouth. A stylized uraeus or coiled serpent form is not clearly identifiable, but the headdress has prominent sculpted elements near the brow. No legible hieroglyphic text or cartouches are visible on the face, headdress, or along the visible portion of the base. The background includes museum display elements, and the sculpture appears set on a rectangular support block.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 65.134.3 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3741 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.