Relief of Hatshepsut or Tuthmosis III (1479–1425 BCE): Art, History and Details

Relief of Hatshepsut or Tuthmosis III (1479–1425 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

At the death of King Tuthmosis II, a child was proclaimed king, Tuthmosis III. His aunt Hatshepsut was named to serve as his regent; however, she quickly proclaimed herself queen and ruled in the boy's stead for over twenty years. To further assert her power she often had herself portrayed in sculpture as a king with masculine torso and even a beard. She is shown here wearing crowns usually reserved for kings. When Tuthmosis III finally ascended to the throne, he had many of her monuments destroyed or vandalized.

Object facts

• Title: Relief of Hatshepsut or Tuthmosis III
• Date: 1479–1425 BCE
• Culture: Egypt, said to be from Thebes, Deir el-Bahari, Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18, reign of Hatshepsut (c. 1479–1458 BCE)–reign of Tuthmosis III (1479–1425 BCE)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: painted limestone
• Dimensions: Overall: 22.8 x 16.6 x 3.8 cm (9 x 6 9/16 x 1 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Egypt - New Kingdom
• Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Accession number: 1920.1995

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999

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.