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Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · statue

Sphinx of Amenhotep III, possibly from a Model of a Temple

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Sphinx, Amenhotep III. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III, ca. 1390–1352 B.C. Faience, remains of a travertine (Egyptian alabaster) tenon. l. 25.1 cm (9 7/8 in); w. 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in); h. 13.3 cm (5 1/4 in). Possibly from: Karnak, Upper Egypt, Thebes. Subject: Sphinx. Credit: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1972.

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.

Blue faience sphinx with a human head wearing a nemes headdress, shown in left-facing seated posture with paws and foreleg raised on a rectangular base.

The object is a small, blue-glazed faience sculpture of a sphinx. The sphinx has a human head with a stylized face and a nemes (striped) headdress extending around the sides of the head and over the shoulders. The body is crouched and supported by a low rectangular pedestal/base. One forepaw is positioned forward and the other is raised; a short tail is visible resting behind the body. The headdress and facial features are rendered in relief/raised detail consistent with Egyptian royal sphinx iconography. No clear hieroglyphic inscription or cartouches are visible on the photographed surfaces. Materials such as a stone tenon (travers/tavertine or Egyptian alabaster) are not directly visible in this image; only the blue glazed ceramic surface is evident.

royal New Kingdom (18th dynasty; likely Amenhotep III era per catalogue) good
Deities Sphinx (guardian/royal apotropaic figure; specific deity not identifiable from image)
Royals Amenhotep III (not directly readable/confirmed from image; inferred from catalogue only)
Materials blue faience/glazed ceramic

Connections

Found at Karnak
Royals Amenhotep III

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q29385798 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 1972.125 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 544498 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • 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.