Tutankhamun's Golden Mask

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Block Statue of Senenmut and Neferure: A Female Pharaoh’s Influence on Regional Egyptian

Art

Professor Orenduff-Bartos

ARH2050\.004

April 15, 2017

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Block Statue of Senenmut and Neferure: A Female Pharaoh’s Influence on Regional

Egyptian Art

About 3300 years ago, Egypt entered its 18th dynasty with a pharaoh by the name of

Hatshepsut, the second female-reigning pharaoh in all of Ancient Egypt. Although it was

Sobekneferu who was the first female pharaoh, it seems as if Hatshepsut had a much larger

impact on Ancient Egypt’s society at the time. This is especially emphasized through the

multitude of art and architectural structures that were cultivated in her name and honor

throughout her time as queen1. A piece that specifically stuck out to me was Block Statue of

Senenmut and Neferure, one block statue in a collection of many that pays tribute to the royal

family, the Gods, and Senenmut himself after death. This statue doesn’t include Hatshepsut in it,

but upon further examination, it appears to be connected to the Queen in more ways than what

immediately meets the eye. With that, perhaps the sculptor created this image of Senenmut with

Neferure as a means to show a subtle shift of gender roles in Egypt due to the powerful reign of

Queen Hatshepsut.

This statue was carved out of gray granite and stands about 130cm (about 4.2 feet) tall

with no hints of potential color alteration from the original gray. It is a bulky box-shaped object

with two heads protruding from the top of it. The exterior of the cube is almost completely

covered in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that describes the life and accomplishments of

1 Kara Cooney. The woman who would be king: Hatshepsut's rise to power in ancient Egypt. (Richmond: Oneworld, 2015), 144

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Senenmut, the larger of the two heads in this image. A line is drawn about a third of the way up

from the bottom where the block’s height evens off, and one’s eyes are immediately drawn to

the most significant person in this creation, the daughter of Hatshepsut and Thutmose II,

Princess Neferure. Neither figures depict much naturalism or idealism, since the proportions of

their heads and shape of their ears do not represent that of normal humans, and also their faces

are too rounded and smooth to be realistic. Additional to that, neither of them have bodies and it

is only their heads being shown at the top of the block. However, naturalism does show through

their bulging eyes rather than just have two circles shaved into the stone. Senenmut is smiling

with his and Neferure’s eyes wide open, adding on an overall happy tone to a relatively bleak

statue. Over the several thousand years since the original creation of this, parts have

unfortunately eroded away or fallen off; for example, Senenmut’s nose is missing, his mouth and

eyes have been worn down, and the bottom of the block has been dulled, making it harder to

read the hieroglyphics near the base of the object.

Surprisingly, there is much symbolism to be found in such a simple statue meant for a

tomb of someone who was not necessarily royalty and who lived a relatively normal life for

someone that worked in the palace. Neferure, in this art piece, is an infant but because of her

royal status and the cultural shift of importance on women, she is seen to be in the main focal

point in this piece. On her head she bears a uraeus, an item that the royal children of the time

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wear to display their status, further establishing herself as the more prominent figure.2 Also, she

is sitting on Senenmut in a way that alludes to her sitting on a throne, perhaps predicting a future

female ruler and to perpetuate the idea of her royalty. Also, if you look at the closeness between

Senenmut and Neferure and how the block creates an image of embracement, one can gauge a

sense of how close they were as tutor and student as they were when they were actually alive. In

fact, this style of block statues is a way of commemorating a connection to the royal family and

is repeated by others throughout the dynasty.3 The inscriptions on the block describe this

sculpture also as an offering to the Egyptian God Osiris, which indicates that it was designed for

a temple called The House of the Bee rather than his own personal burial grounds.4 However,

the rest of the inscriptions are a personal testament to his life that describe the various honorable

job titles that he has received and other accomplishments throughout his entire life. 5

As previously mentioned before, there are several block statues that have been created for

Senenmut that allude to his connections with the royal family of the time. However, there are

absolutely no statues of him sculpted with Hatshepsut, the female ruler of the time and his very

close friend. Although there are countless records of their unabiding friendship, he apparently

did not deem himself worthy to be carved in the same image as her. According to Kara Cooney

2 Edna R. Russman. "Egyptian Art." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art), no. 1982/1983 (1982): 6-7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1513640 3 Cathleen A. Keller. “The Joint Reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.” Hatshepsut and Her Court 269 (2006): 123 4 Russmann "Egyptian Art." 6 5 Ibid.

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in her book “The Woman Who Would Be King” she explains, “Senenmut knew he couldn’t

show himself in Hatsheptsut’s sacred presence, but included Neferure’s image was the next best

way to communicate his close relationship to the royal family.”6 It is rare that we find such

respect and humbleness from a man towards a woman from such a long time ago, something

that can sometimes also be hard to find even in current times. Additionally, Senenmut’s role as a

tutor to the Princess Neferure is traditionally seen as more of a motherly, feminine job, but he

took on the job and gratuitously served two women rather than the usual other way around.7 The

artwork commissioned by Senenmut almost always included his connections to Hatshepsut and

the princess in order to brag to his fellow peers about the job he earned, despite it being more of

a job for females.8 Since he was not able to show himself along side Hatshepsut, because that

would mean he’s representing himself as a God, he had several art pieces designed with

Neferure instead.9

If one is to compare the way that Senenmut is shown in his block statue with any other

depiction of the Queen Hatshepsut, he is shown to be much gentler and possess more of a glossy,

feminine physique than the woman pharaoh’s usual broad, powerful stances and expressions

(and sometimes a beard, which Senenmut is almost never shown to have). Even though she was

a small child, Senenmut still had Neferure shown as more powerful and important through her

6 Cooney. “The Woman Who Would Be King.” 145 7 Keller. “Joint Reign of Hatshepsut.” 112 8 Cooney. “The Woman Who Would Be King.” 141 9 Ibid.

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more stoic expression (as opposed to his smile), and to be presented in front of him to further

conceive her importance. Senenmut’s face is shown to be very smooth and delicate, despite the

fact that he was estimated to be in his fifties by the time this had been created.10 I believe that

this was constructed purposefully by the artist to contrast the powerful king-like way Hatshepsut

is normally shown as to establish Hatshepsut’s higher rank than him, no matter how powerful he

later came to be. These changes are subtle, but they allow for the old idea of masculinity and

femininity solely belonging to either males or females to fade. This is important because if the

rest of Egypt sees women in a position of power over, not just politically powerful males, but an

entire empire then the people would most likely start to reflect that, giving more freedom and

dignity to women.

The fact that over three thousand years ago women could be regarded as influential

leaders, such as Queen Hatshepsut and Princess Neferure were, shows an impressive amount of

progression towards gender equality for that era. It is imperative to include women in politics,

leadership roles, education, and all forms of society in order to fully utilize the potential of a

region’s people instead of excluding an entire population for insignificant reasons. Art is

commonly used as a way to teach today’s society lessons by looking back at past events to either

reflect the positive outcomes of the past or prevent disastrous ones. Using Block Statue of

Senenmut and Neferure in modern times can show that men are no less important or significant if

10 Ibid.

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they take on roles usually meant for women. This not only dissolves unnecessary gender gaps,

but ultimately creates an image of equality amongst the genders as well. As a country, we may

be on the right track to creating a completely equal society; however, we obviously have much

more to be done in order to reach a true equilibrium. We can take Hatshepsut as a quintessential

example of how women are fully capable of taking on any job that men traditionally have, and

do it with both power and poise.

Bibliography

Cooney, Kara. The woman who would be king: Hatshepsut's rise to power in ancient Egypt.

Richmond: Oneworld, 2015.

Keller, Cathleen A. “The Joint Reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III.” Hatshepsut and Her

Court 269 (2006): 111-125. http://markbwilson.com/pdf/articles/Roehrig_Hatshepsut.pdf

Russmann, Edna R. "Egyptian Art." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art), no.

1982/1983 (1982): 6-7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1513640.

Teeter, Emily. "Museum Review: Hatshepsut and Her World." American Journal of

Archaeology 110, no. 4 (2006): 649-53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40025062.