Head from a Female Sphinx
Description
Object Label: Small details sometimes provide crucial clues to understanding a sculpture. On this object, for example, the back of the wig extends horizontally instead of downward, indicating that the head originally belonged to a sphinx, a mythological creature with a human head and a lion’s body. Sphinxes represented the king’s ability to crush Egypt’s enemies. Although sphinxes were usually male, the heavy striated wig shown here only appears on representations of women. This statue’s inlaid eyes, probably of metal and colored stones, were pried out in antiquity, resulting in extensive damage. Repairs to the eyes, lips, and chin were apparently made in the eighteenth century. Caption: Head from a Female Sphinx, ca. 1876–1842 B.C.E.. Chlorite, 15 5/16 x 13 1/8 x 13 15/16 in., 124.5 lb. (38.9 x 33.3 x 35.4 cm, 56.47kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 56.85. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum) Tags Brooklyn Icons
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A bust of an Egyptian figure sculpted from dark stone.
The artifact is a sculpted bust of an Egyptian figure made from a dark, polished stone. It depicts a person with a smooth, idealized face and a distinct headdress or hairstyle typical of Egyptian art. The sculpture is well-carved with remnants of detailing and has sustained damage, particularly noticeable on the nose and some chipping around the base.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 56.85 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3623 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.