Sphinxes with a Human Head and with a Ram Head at Point Y. Karnak (Thebes) (1851–52): Art, History and Details

Sphinxes with a Human Head and with a Ram Head at Point Y. Karnak (Thebes) (1851–52) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Félix Teynard (French, 1817–1892).

The work and its context

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

The monumental sphinx at Giza, which has the head of a man and the body of a lion, is one of the most iconic symbols of ancient Egypt. The country contains other, humbler versions of this mythical creature. The one here with the head of a ram is only nine feet long and held a statue of a human between its paws.

Object facts

• Title: Sphinxes with a Human Head and with a Ram Head at Point Y. Karnak (Thebes)
• Date: 1851–52
• Creator attribution: Félix Teynard (French, 1817–1892)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: salted paper print from calotype negative
• Dimensions: Image: 23.8 x 31.1 cm (9 3/8 x 12 1/4 in.); Paper: 38 x 50 cm (14 15/16 x 19 11/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
• Collection: PH - French 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 1992.331

Collection credit

Gift of Betty and Max Ratner in honor of Arielle Kozloff

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.

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.