The Merrin Gallery

King Amenhotep I: Egypt at the Merrin Gallery

King Amenhotep I
New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, Reign of Amenhotep I, 1525 – 1504 BC
Polychromed sandstone
Height: 16 inches (40.6 cm)
Private Collection
Exhibited: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum

The Merrin Gallery was able to present this ancient piece of art thanks to the effort of many scholars and architects, but owes special recognition to the work of Bernard V. Bothmer, who published the identity of the monarch in question as the subject for this sculptural rendition. In 1987, Bernard V. Bothmer attributed the sculpture to King Amenhotep I of Dynasty XVIII.

Wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, King Amenhotep’s divine kingship is apparent to the modern viewer even after years of wear on the sculpture’s surface. Still surviving to contemporary onlookers is a protective uraeus cobra, its polychromatic hues standing out in brilliance. The red pigment of the original coloration of the statue continues to impress, as does the personality reflected in distinctive ridges, bumps, and a hesitant, shy smile chiseled into the sandstone to reveal not only a historical monarch, but a specific individual human being, a divine monarch who was also a man.