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ID number:  BIRBI-44.1
Institution:  The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
Title / Object name:  Head of Amenhotep III
Object type:  Sculpture
Place made:  Europe: France, Île-de-France, Paris
Culture:  French
Date made:  1930s
Materials:  Gabbro, with traces of paint
Measurements:  60 x 46.5 cm
Provenance:  Acquired by Burney from a Paris dealer before 1939; purchased from Sydney Burney, London, March 1944
BIRBI-44.1.jpg

When acquired, this head was thought to have formed part of a full-length statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep the Third who ruled Egypt for forty years at the end of the 14th century BC. He wears the Khepresh, the blue royal headdress, which is decorated in the centre with a cobra, symbol of divine authority. During his peaceful reign the pharaoh commissioned more than a thousand statues of himself. It is now generally accepted, however, that this sculpture is a forgery, copied from a bust in the Louvre, Paris. It was perhaps made in response to the hugely expanded appetite for Egyptian antiquities following the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.

Notes:  Probably made in Paris.

2 Related Publications

Egypt's Dazzling Sun: Amanhotep III and his World
Bryan, Betsy, M. and Kozloft, Arielle, P.
Indiana University Press
1992
The Iconography of the Blue Crown in the New Kingdom
Hardwick, Tom
The Egypt Exploration Society
2003
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