Near the top of an escalator to the lower galleries of the exhibition stands the statue of Ramses as a young man. It is about double life size and was an official portrait showing an idealised image of the young pharaoh.
He is shown with a round youthful face, elongated, almond shaped eyes and a mouth formed into a slight smile.
He wears a short, curled wig held in place with a band tied behind his head and the uraeus serpent fixed to the front – ready to spit venom at any of the king’s enemies. He holds the Heka sceptre, a symbol of his kingly power, in his right hand.
Only the outline of the sceptre remains but it symbolised a shepherd’s crook and thus inferred that Ramses was the shepherd of his people.
There is a wide collar draped over his chest and a finely pleated shawl which is tied just below the right breast. On his right wrist he wears a bracelet decorated with a wedjat eye which is a combination of a human eye and the facial markings of the falcon god Horus and symbolizsed health and protection.
In fact, this is only the remaining top part of what was originally a seated sculpture. Ramses torso is leaning on the back of a chair. There are hieroglyphs carved into the back of the chair. The sculpture is carved out of granodiorite, which is a very dark grey stone with lighter flecks in it.