This very finely modeled limestone statue represents Ramesses the Second in the form of a human-headed sphinx. He wears a striped Nemes headdress, adorned with a frontal cobra; the ceremonial beard is attached to his chin by two bands that join the headdress. The shoulders are covered with a collar and a pleated cloth.
Because the statue was presented to the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, the hands are holding a vessel with a stopper in the shape of a ram, the sacred animal of Amun-Re and the symbol of fertility. This type of vessel, made of precious metal, was offered to the god Amun at the festival of the New Year in ancient Egypt. To inaugurate the re-fertilization of Egypt's land by the waters of the Nile, this festival was held on the day that the water of the inundation arrived at Thebes.