What is it?
This granite statue depicts Pharaoh Ramesses VI, who reigned 1144-1137 BC. On the back is a hieroglyphic inscription that reads: ‘May [he] live, [the] good god, son of [the god] Amun, the protector, bull of Thebes, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of the two lands, Meriamun, lord of the truth.’ It is believed that the statue originally stood around 1.8m tall, but it was broken into pieces at some point in the past, and the head, the torso, and the legs, feet, and statue base were separated. Thanks to recent research by Egyptologists Lara Weiss (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) and Rob Demarée (Leiden University) the head and torso have now been matched together again.
Where was it found and when?
Unfortunately, the statue’s original location is unknown, as are the date when and reason why it was smashed. After it was broken, the head, legs, and torso of the statue all went to different places. The head was bought in Egypt in 1929 by the Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago, whereas the torso was bought by a private collector from Amsterdam, and later sold to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities) in 1941. The location of the lower part of the statue remains uncertain.
Why does it matter?
Not much is known about Pharaoh Ramesses VI: he reigned for only a few years, in a politically troubled period, and there are not many archaeological remains that can be traced back to building activities under his rule. Furthermore, only a few monuments and statues of him are known, making this finding particularly important.
