Head of Amenhotep III Wearing the Round Wig (c. 1391–1353 BCE): Art, History and Details

Head of Amenhotep III Wearing the Round Wig (c. 1391–1353 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Although he must have been nearly 50 years old when this portrait was carved, Amenhotep III appears more youthful than ever. Over a round, curly wig he wears a diadem with side streamers adorned with cobras bearing sun disks on their heads. The stone quartzite was associated with the sun on account of its ruddy hues, ranging in color from brown to red to purple. It was a favorite of Amenhotep III, the king who called himself the "dazzling sun-disk of all lands."

Object facts

• Title: Head of Amenhotep III Wearing the Round Wig
• Date: c. 1391–1353 BCE
• Culture: Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: brown quartzite
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.3 x 17 x 25.3 cm (6 13/16 x 6 11/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Egypt - New Kingdom
• Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Accession number: 1961.417

A detail from the museum

Amenhotep wears a chin strap that would have held up a false beard.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review 1962." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 9 (1962).
• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Martha L. Carter. Egyptian Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: The Museum, 1963.
• Cooney, John D. "Amarna Art in the Cleveland Museum." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 55, no. 1 (1968)

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.