Sesostris III
Description
<p>Usually the sculptures of kings and queens have youthful, confident, contented, and even slightly smiling facial expressions. King Sesostris III broke dramatically with this tradition, and his face shows signs of age, concern, and discontent. He may have wished his sculptors to show him as the shepherd of his people, heavily burdened by his care for their needs and the duties of monarchy. Among the most important ancient Egyptian sculptures in the collection, this statue is a classic representation of an Egyptian pharaoh. He is shown wearing the nemes head cloth (worn only by Egypt's monarchs) with a uraeus (protective serpent) at the brow, and a shendyit (pleated kilt). An unusual feature of this king's sculpture is the amulet suspended from a necklace.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/22.115' rel='external'>Sesostris III</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Small standing seated(?) figure of an Egyptian king holding a staff or attribute, shown in dark stone with a wig and crossed arms/pose.
The image shows a dark, highly polished stone sculpture of a male figure seated or kneeling upright on a rectangular base. The figure wears a nemes-style striped headcloth/wig and a broad facial headdress with stylized facial features. One arm appears drawn across the torso toward the chest, while the other hand rests lower near the lap/attribute area. The figure holds or is adjacent to a long staff-like element at the side (partially obscured by the pose). The body is rendered with formal, royal proportions. No clearly legible hieroglyphs, cartouches, or inscriptions are visible on the body, base, or surrounding surfaces in this image. Surface wear and chips are visible, including a notable darker patch on the chest/upper body area and wear along edges of the base and lower figure. The overall material appearance matches a dark stone consistent with black granite as stated by the catalogue.
Connections
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 22.115 tier-2
- Walters-id 18291 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
- 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.