Hatshepsut Kneeling Analysis

This Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut (ca. 1473-1458 BCE), shows the pharaoh Hatshepsut kneeling and providing an offering either for balance or order. For a few reasons those first viewing this statue will assume that it’s just another depiction of a male pharaoh. Firstly, women as rulers were extremely uncommon in Egypt. Visually, the statue almost appears to be male. The body composition is rather bulky for a woman and is fitted with a facial beard. The clothing is that of a male ruler and the facial expression is serious and confident. The statue itself is giving no emotion, she looks serious as though she is not trying to give an expression, but could intel that she is a rightful ruler as any male pharaoh before her.

However, on further examination of the statue, certain physical characteristics of a female become apparent. The face is smaller and more feminine than other depictions of male pharaohs. In comparison to statues of male rulers this one is less muscular. Wearing the fake beard can let her people know that she is capable of being a commander as any man. In her kneeling state, her feet curve along side the ground as well as her toes. This is an extra detail given to the statue as Egyptian statues weren’t realistic. Even as a statue the artists make her very big with much bulk

Hatshepsut stands apart for her historical legacy as opposed to Cleopatra, “Egypt’s Cleopatra looms large more for her romantic exploits than her historical legacy. One Egyptian queen stands apart, however: Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt for some two decades at the beginning of the fifteenth century B.C. A strong and effective pharaoh, she oversaw a cultural renaissance that influenced the arts in Egypt for more than a millennium” (Roehrig and Dreyfus