Figure Sekhmet. Egypt. Golden. H: 25 cm

Reproduction made of marble resin (resin + marble powder). Golden patina.

Height: 25 cm.

Reproduction of archaeological models from museums around the world.

Original limestone.  Kingdom of Piankhi. XXVth Dynasty, ca. 740-713 BC. Musée du Louvre. Paris.

The city of Memphis worshipped the lion goddess Sekhmet, daughter of the god Ra, the creator Sun, and wife of Ptah, god of Fire, protector of artists. In Egypt she was called “The Mighty One”, “The Lady”, and her energy even reached the warriors, who also took her as their patron, since Sekhmet is the goddess of war.

She represents the will and strength of the soul. She symbolises destiny, understood as the application of the law of cause and effect, i.e. she executes the divine designs on earth. Its claws were reputed to reach any man who broke the law.

Among the ancient Egyptians, the observation of the annual cycle of the Nile, with the floods of the river alternating with droughts, created the myth of this goddess. Shu, the spirit, and Thoth, the god of wisdom, went in search of her in the eastern deserts of Nubia, where she dwelt, and succeeded in appeasing her. The fire lioness then took on the character of the cat-goddess Bastet, the gentle feline, who brought the fertilising floods of the Nile.

In the piece presented here, standing, the goddess Sekhmet has the head of a lioness, and her gaze, with eyebrows in the form of a circumflex accent, gives her a fearsome and fierce appearance. In her hand she holds the Ankh, or ‘Key of Life’.