Reconstruction of the bases of sandstone sphinxes from the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari

Abstract

The reconstruction of the iconographic program of the decoration of the sandstone bases of a group of sphinxes ofHatshepsut lining the processional avenue leading to the Queen’s Mansion of a Million Years in the temple at Deir el-Bahari is the prime focus of this article. The fragments of these statues discovered in the 1920s by the archaeological mission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York were never published. The pieces were rediscovered in storage in 2005. A theoretical reconstruction has been undertaken, leading the author to identify an unusual iconographical pattern that reflects changes in art introduced in the times of Hatshepsut. The representations on the bases of the royal sandstone sphinxes from the queen’s temple include, among others, rekhyt birds, pat-people and “enemies of Egypt”. They take on a form that departs from that known from other sphinx sculptures.

Keywords

• Deir el-Bahari
• Temple of Hatshepsut
• sphinx
• rekhyt
• foreigners