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Document Details :

Title: En rconsidérant le grand sphinx du Louvre (A 23)
Author(s): CHERPION, Nadine
Journal: Revue d'Égyptologie
Volume: 42    Date: 1991   
Pages: 25-41
DOI: 10.2143/RE.42.0.2011288

Abstract :
Sometimes attributed to the 12th dynasty and more specifically to Amenemhat II, sometimes to the 6th and even the 4th dynasty, the dating of the Great Sphinx of the Louvre has regularly been debated. If the present state of the inscription does not allow is to definitively date it, numerous material criteria situate the monument without doubt at the beginning of the Old Kingdom. The arguments relate to certain details of the headdress (fold of the nemes, concave aspect of the wings, aspect of the uraeus) and also the rendering of the anatomy (fold in the skin between the anterior and posterior paws, absence of sub-cutaneous anterior vein, rendering of the external face of the anterior paw, rendering of the back of the knee). In conclusion the author suggests that the Louvre Sphinx could represent Snofru.

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