NARRATOR: As a pharaoh, Hatshepsut is wearing a man’s garment: a short, pleated kilt. Her bare torso seems at once taut, as the pharaoh was typically depicted, and soft, like a woman’s. Dorothea Arnold is Lila Acheson Wallace Chairman of the Department of Egyptian Art.

DOROTHEA ARNOLD: This is, of course, one of the most important pieces of art of the time of Hatshepsut, and perhaps in ancient Egypt overall. It’s not complete; it shows its history, by having breaks and cracks. But it’s quite a unique piece. The artist has been immensely successful, in showing her in this way as the official pharaoh, but at the same time, as a woman. She has the figure of a dancer, see the long legs, immensely long, slender legs. She has this kind of cat-like face, which is clearly female.

The artist, in a way, creates a new being, that is both male and female. And makes it look, to us, natural and beautiful. This is really... I don’t know of any parallel in the whole history of art, where this has been done so successfully.

NARRATOR: The figure itself was highly polished—with paint only on the head cloth and kilt. The image was housed in a shrine. As the doors of the shrine were opened at sunrise, the morning sun’s reflection on the crystalline surface would appear to make Hatshepsut’s radiant spirit—or ka—come alive to receive its offerings.