Queen Hatshepsut is the most famous female ruler of ancient Egypt. This head, which is one of the masterpieces of 18th Dynasty sculpture, is part of a statue that once represented the queen in the shape of the god Osiris.
The head, made out of painted limestone, bears all her distinctive feminine features: the gently curved eyebrows, the wide eyes extended by cosmetic lines, the delicate aquiline nose, the full cheeks, and the gracious mouth.
The New Kingdom, mid 18th Dynasty, reign of Hatshepsut, ca. 1479-1458 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
