This rare Egyptian fragment depicts a female figure, the Ptolemaic Queen Arsinoe II. Clad in a tightly fitting garment, revealing the curves of her body and the dip of her navel, her preserved right arm is held by her side, her left arm once held across her chest and holding a lily sceptre, now lost. She stands against a back pillar with a well-carved hieroglyphic inscription in a column giving her titles of: '[...] (sweet) of love, ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt [...]' and identifying her as Queen Arsinoe II.

Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC and following his death less than a decade later, his general Ptolemy I Soter took over the rule of Egypt, establishing the Ptolemaic dynasty. This statue was created in the early part of the reign of the Macedonian Greek Ptolemies and the inscription identifies her as Arsinoe II (278–270 B.C.), sister/wife of Ptolemy II.

Ptolemaic queens served a much more prominent role than their predecessors. This image of Arsinoe shows her in the traditional pose and drapery of ancient Egypt, as the early Ptolemies depicted themselves as the inheritors of the pharaohs who had preceded them, continuing their building projects and closely adopting their style.