Sphinx of Hatshepsut

Ancient Egyptian This colossal red granite sphinx portrays the female pharaoh Hatshepsut with the body of a lion and a human head wearing the nemes headcloth and false beard. It was one of at least six granite sphinxes that originally lined the processional avenue at Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes.

After Hatshepsut's death, her nephew and successor Thutmose III ordered her monuments destroyed. This sphinx was deliberately smashed into fragments and dumped in a quarry near the temple. The Met's Egyptian Expedition recovered the pieces and painstakingly reassembled them. Traces of original blue and yellow paint survive on the surface, showing it was once brightly colored.

At nearly 7.5 tonnes, it's one of the largest Egyptian objects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, displayed in Gallery 131 alongside the Temple of Dendur.