This naturalistic depiction of a lion has a pear-shaped head framed along the jawline by the mane, which is composed of inward-curving locks. The grooved, almost smiling mouth is mirrored above by the shallow modelling for the whiskers. The convex eyes are framed by thick lids, and the ears have striated horizontal tufts. The back is flat, with no indication of the grid lines that occur frequently on sculptor’s models. Bianchi (op. cit., p. 34) compares the style of this lion head to two granite statues of lions, their plinths inscribed for the 30th Dynasty Pharoah Nectanebo I, found at the Iseum Campense in Rome, now in the Vatican Museums (see pl. CXC, nos. 279-280 in A. Roullet, The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome). For related lion head limestone sculptor’s models, see the examples in Hannover and Cairo, pls. 64a and 64c in Tomoum, op. cit.