Egyptian archaeologists have found part of a 3,400-year-old double statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III together with a falcon-headed sun god, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said.

The red granite upper half of the statue was found at the site of Amenhotep III’s funerary temple in Luxor, southern Egypt.

The artefact, showing the powerful pharaoh seated with the sun god Ra-Harekhti, “is one of the most beautiful statues unearthed in the funerary temple,” Mr Hawass said.

Last month, a double statue of the same pharaoh and chief deity Amun was discovered in the same area. A large quantity of red granite statue pieces have been uncovered at Amenhotep III’s funerary temple at Kom al-Hitan on Luxor’s west bank.

Amenhotep III ruled Egypt between 1390 and 1352 BC, believed to be one of the most prosperous periods of ancient Egyptian history.

He was almost certainly the grandfather of Tutankhamun, according to the results of DNA tests and computerised tomography (CT) scans on the famed boy king’s mummy announced by scientists on February 17.