The upper body of this statue of "Ramesses the Great" probably came from a colossal standing figure.  The elegantly attired king looks straight ahead with arms crossed against his chest in the traditional position and with the standard attributes of the god Osiris.  The right fist holds the royal scepter or crook, and the left grasps the royal beaded whip with three separate lashes.

          Ramesses' Double Crown combines the white crown of Upper Egypt inside the red crown of Lower Egypt, representing dominion over the south and north.  A simply decorated fillet with a uraeus at each end and at the center front encircles his heavy curled wig.  He also wears a wide collar with pendants around his neck and a bracelet with a Horus (wedjat) eye on his right wrist.  Jutting from his chin is a false beard, symbol of royalty.

          On his right shoulder is Ramesses' prenomen and his left shoulder bears his nomen.

          The statue fragment was discovered on the Island of Elephantine in the Temple of Khnum, the important ram-headed god associated with creation.  The figure may have stood in or outside the temple along with several similar statues of the mighty pharaoh, the living god, indestructible defender and benefactor of Egypt.  In 1838 the work was presented to the British Museum, London.