Sekhmet was a Memphite deity who came to be associated with the Theban goddess Mut, consort of Amun. She was a manifestation of the eye of Ra in rage, who, through appeasement, would protect the sun and the king from their enemies. Amenhotep III commissioned more than six hundred statues of the lion-headed goddess, which lined the courts of the Temple of Mut at Karnak. Many of these over-lifesized figures, as evinced by the present example are of unsurpassed "beauty, dignity, and technical excellence" according to Hayes in The Scepter of Egypt.

For the most recent discussion on the goddess see Kozloff and Bryan, Egypt's Dazzling Sun, pp. 215-217, and no. 34, pp. 225-226.