What ancient Egyptian granite sphinx is displayed in the Louvre?

The ancient Egyptian granite sphinx displayed in the Louvre is the Great Sphinx of Tanis.

This monumental sculpture is carved from pink granite and shows a sphinx with a human head and a lion's body. It was discovered at Tanis, an important ancient Egyptian capital, in the ruins of the Temple of Amun-Ra. The sculpture is difficult to date precisely because later rulers added inscriptions to an earlier monument.

Possible dates for its original creation range from the 4th Dynasty, around the 26th century BCE, to the 12th Dynasty. Inscriptions or additions are associated with rulers including Amenemhat II, Merneptah, and Shoshenq I. That layered history explains why the sphinx is not securely identified with only one pharaoh.

France acquired it in 1826 through the second Egyptian collection of Henry Salt, with Jean-François Champollion acting on behalf of the state. It was moved several times before reaching its present crypt in the Louvre's Egyptian antiquities area. It is not the Great Sphinx of Giza, which remains in Egypt.