“The Shining Masterpiece of Turin”
“The Fifty Sharks Statue”
#Statue of King Ramses II
Found by the scientist “Pierre Montier” in Tanis or San el-Hajar in Sharkia Governorate. The statue dates back to the nineteenth dynasty during the reign of King Ramses II, who is considered the son of King Seti I and grandson of King Ramses I, and was carved from black granite.
It is now preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Turin – Turin – Italy. This museum is dedicated to displaying ancient Egyptian antiquities, as it includes the largest collection of Egyptian artefacts, numbering 30,000 artefacts.
The statue depicts King Ramses II sitting on a seat with a backrest, wearing the blue crown, one of the famous crowns in wars. The king wears it in military ceremonies, and it is preceded by the sacred uraeus (the uraeus is the black desert serpent) and covers his chest with a wide collar of several rows of beads and wears a finely pleated dress with wide sleeves and a long neck that reaches the ankles. He wears sandals on his feet that show the features of his feet. He clutches his right hand to his chest, holding his royal sceptre, “Al-Haqqa”, the emblem of the government. On either side of his feet is his wife, Queen Nefertari, of a small size.
From the bottom of his feet appear the nine bows, which are considered the embodiment of enemies (the ancient Egyptian likened the enemies to the nine bows to belittle them because they are primitive and still use bows in hunting).
The artist excelled in showing the handsomeness of the young king through the smile on his face, and the statue shows us the strength and majesty of the Ramesside era.