Colossal Statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye

This colossal statue of Amenhotep III and Tiye is a group statue and three of their daughters. It is the largest known Ancient Egyptian family group ever carved. The almond-shaped eyes and arched eyebrows of the figures are of typical late 18th Dynasty style.

Amenhotep III wears the nemes headdress with the uraeus or royal cobra, a false beard and a kilt. He is resting both his hands on his knees. Queen Tiye is sitting on his left, with her right arm placed around her husband’s waist. Her height is equal to that of the king, which shows her prominent status. She wears an ankle-length, close-fitting dress and a big wig with a vulture headdress.

The three smaller figures depict the three of their daughters. One of the Princesses is standing in the center between her parent’s legs and is depicted as a grown woman, in a close-fitting dress and a full wig with modius and plumes.

Related: Mummy of Queen Tiye

To the far left of Amenhotep’s legs stands the figure of a younger daughter, while to the far right of Tiye’s legs stands another princess. The two Princesses on the sides of the sculpture are both damaged and not visible in the picture above because of the angle of the photograph.

Although Princess Henuttaneb is not identified with the title Royal Wife, the colossal statue group of Amenhotep III and Tiye from Medinet Habu, in the central hall of the Cairo Museum, portrays her at the side of her parents, in a smaller scale, wearing the vulture cap of a queen, and she is described as ‘the companion of Horus, who is in his heart’.

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III, ca. 1391-1353 BC. The statue originally stood in Medinet Habu, West Thebes and today it is the centerpiece of the main hall of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 33906