Relief fragment depicting Amun investing Hatshepsut

New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, ca. 1473–1458 BCE
Upper Egypt; Thebes, el-Asasif, Ramesside Temple, Radim, MMA 1935-1936
Painted limestone; paint much faded
H. 41 cm (16 1/8 in); w. 29 cm (11 7/16 in); d. 7.8 cm (3 1/16 in)
Rogers Fund, 1936, MMA 36.3.271

When I photographed this, I fouled up on the description catch. I saw the double crown, with its red curl and clicked on the first thing I saw with 'double crown' in the title. But this isn't Amenhotep II "kneeling and offering". We can tell this even without knowledge that the accession numbers don't match up. Here are this piece's numbers:


36.3.271

Fortunately, that accession number has allowed me to later find it at the museum website.

I was right in thinking it looks like the person on the right has been scratched out on purpose. We can see hints that he also wore the double crown, complete with an uraeus. The hatching lines don't look like ordinary wear and tear!

I thought it could be Thutmosis III with Hatshepsut, as later in his reign he took to having her pharaonic name excised whenever possible. But the title says that it is Amun to Hatshepsut's left. (This may be based on the 'zig zag' glyph, sounding 'n' that could be part of Amun's name.)

Thutmosis III did his damage, but the worst was the action of Amenhotep IV (aka Akenaten), who destroyed so much imagery. *An example of the 'Amarna' period damage upon the goddess Hathor