ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Seated Baboon

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period

Date722-332 BCE

MediumLimestone, paint

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions2 3/8 x 1 5/8 x 1 9/16 in., 112 g (6.1 x 4.1 x 4 cm, 3 15/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.230

Label TextThoth was the god of writing and knowledge and a patron of scribes and scholars. In art, Thoth appeared as a baboon, an ibis, and in human form with the head of an ibis. In ancient Egypt, amulets of Thoth were placed within the mummy wrappings. Their popularity in the funerary sphere was due to the god’s recording of the final judgment, which determined whether the deceased had lived honorably and could pass into the afterlife.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed. Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 3.

ProvenanceEx coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California, possibly purchased from Jean-François Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France.

Status

Not on view

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