Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut

This over life-size kneeling statue and two others in the collection (30.3.1 and 29.3.1) were made to flank the processional pathway along the axis of Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri. They depict Hatshepsut as the ideal Egyptian king - a young man in the prime of life. Each statue has an inscription that includes her personal name, Hatshepsut (literally foremost of noblewomen) and/or a feminine pronoun or verb form, so the masculine garb and physique were not intended to trick people into thinking that she was a man.

Although traditionally the Egyptian throne passed from father to son, when the necessity arose, a female ruler was accepted. However, the trappings and symbolism associated with kingship were overwhelmingly masculine and the sculptors of this statue were following a tradition that extended back more than fifteen hundred years. In this tradition, the public image of the king, whether he was an infant, a frail old man or, in this case, a woman, was shown in the most powerful and imposing form – a young, vigorous man, or a human-headed lion-bodied sphinx (31.3.166). In this statue, Hatshepsut wears the nemes-headcloth, false beard, and shendyt-kilt that are part of the standard regalia of the king. On her chest she also wears the same enigmatic amulet suspended on a necklace of tubular beads that is represented on one of the statues representing Hatshepsut as a woman (30.3.3).