Brooklyn Museum: Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art

Kneeling Senenmut. Egypt, from Armant. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, circa 1478/72–1458 B.C. Gray granite, 18 9/16 x 6 7/8 in. (47.2 x 17.4 cm); base: 6 3/4 x 2 15/16 x 11 9/16 in. (17.2 x 7.5 x 29.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 67.68

Senenmut, a powerful official of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, commissioned at least twenty-five statues of himself. This innovative statue type, which shows him holding a divine symbol, was offered to Montu, the god of Armant, in petition for Hatshepsut's well-being and his own eternal reward. The image, which depicts a cobra resting on a pair of upraised arms and crowned with a cow's horns and a sun disk, is identified in the inscription as Renenutet, a goddess of harvest and nourishment. However, it can also be read as a cryptogram for Maatkara, Hatshepsut's throne name—a visual pun made possible by the close relationship between Egyptian hieroglyphic writing and art.

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