If you walk past the gigantic head of Nectanebo I (who is perhaps actually Nectanebo II, we don’t know), and the 5,000-year-old hippopotamus ivory “sandal label” (like an Ancient Egyptian Croc jibbitz, as one National Gallery of Victoria employee puts it), you will come across a remarkably benevolent-looking lion.
The red granite statue, lounging handsomely in the NGV’s new show, Pharaoh, is not that special at first glance, apart from the craftmanship required to make a hunk of rock look like it has just finished a rather good meal. But this lion gives us a fascinating glimpse into the humanity of Ancient Egypt’s rulers – real people who once lived and breathed, who are now hidden away beneath the inscrutable carvings we marvel over in museums around the world.
