Granodiorite Seated Statue of Queen Nofret, wife of Senusert II, in Hathor Wig

Artefact Details

Gallery number: 26 – Ground Floor

Period: Middle Kingdom

Dynasty: 12th Dynasty (ca. 1985–1773 BC)

Place of discovery: San el-Hagar, Excavated by A. Mariette for the EAS (Egyptian Antiquities Service) in 1860

Size: Height: 165cm, width: 54 cm

Material: Granodiorite

Nofret, queen of Senwosret II, on a low backed seat. Her left arm is bent at the elbow, reaching across to touch her right arm just below the bicep. Her right hand is flat on her thigh. She wears a sheath dress, a pectoral bearing the name Khakheperre (Senwosret II), and a heavy “Hathor” wig with uraeus. Her nose is broken off. Her proper left upper arm, proper right lower arm, stomach, and the lower part of the statue, from mid-shin down, has been reconstructed, based on an almost identical statue of the queen (CG 382). There are vertical columns of hieroglyphs inscribed on the front of the throne, flanking the queen’s legs. Although most of these texts are missing, they would have given Nofret’s name and titles.