Egypt, Late Period (711 - 323 BCE) Metalwork; Sculpture, Bronze, Length: 4 7/16 in. (11.2 cm); Width: 2 3/8 in. (6 cm); Height: 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm) William Randolph Hearst Foundation, LACMA 50.14.1 The photo above © Joan Ann Lansberry 2018

This photo © Joan Ann Lansberry 2009

This photo © Joan Ann Lansberry 2018

(From museum info card) "The primeval goddess Neith is represented in female form wearing the “red” crown of Lower Egypt. As goddess of war, she served as one of the protectors of the king and had cult centers in the ancient Egyptian cities of Sais and Esna." (Excerpted from Hearst the Collector: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: Abrams, 2008 This seated bronze female figure represents the ancient Egyptian goddess Neith, patron of hunting and warfare. The goddess was known from predynastic times, and her early cult center was located at Sais, in the western Nile Delta. She wears the flat-topped headdress known as the red crown, which was emblematic of the northern portion of the country. Her close-fitting sheath is hardly visible, with the exception of the clearly indicated hemline at her ankles. The thin sheets of beaten gold covering the whites of her eyes provide the figure’s only ornamentation, strongly contrasting with the dark bronze surface. This figure from the Hearst collection is largely intact and well preserved, retaining its original and somewhat unusual pillar-shaped throne and a base inscribed for its first owner, Hor Khonsu." - (Nancy Thomas, (2008)

Statuette of Neith @ Oriental Museum