This serene and idealized royal image is one of the finest pieces of Egyptian sculpture known. Made of stone, its surface is subtly modeled and gives a very real sense of bodily form and structure. Mycerinus assumes the classic pose for men in Egyptian art, striding forward, his left leg advanced, arms rigid by his sides. He wears the royal headcloth (nemes), kilt, and false beard. The queen also steps forward, clasping Mycerinus in a traditional gesture of intimacy and respect.
The sculpture was excavated in 1910 at the pyramid complex of Mycerinus at Giza by George Andrew Reisner and the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. The day it was discovered, Reisner noted in his journal: "In the evening, just before work stopped, a small boy . . . appeared suddenly at my side and said 'come.' . . . the female head of a statue of bluish slate had just come into view in the sand . . . immediately afterward a block of dirt fell away and showed a male head on the right—a pair statue of a king and queen. A photograph was taken in the failing light and an armed guard of 20 men put on for the night."