<em>Baboon Appliqué</em>, 305–30 B.C.E. Linen, 5 1/2 x 2 3/8 x 1/4 in. (14 x 6 x 0.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.272E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.272E.jpg)

Baboon Appliqué, 305–30 B.C.E. Linen, 5 1/2 x 2 3/8 x 1/4 in. (14 x 6 x 0.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.272E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.272E.jpg)

Baboon Appliqué, 305–30 B.C.E. Linen, 5 1/2 x 2 3/8 x 1/4 in. (14 x 6 x 0.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.272E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 37.272E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

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Can you tell me more about this baboon appliqué?

This applique likely would have adorned a mummy and served to identify it as containing a baboon. Monkey mummies appear in almost every necropolis of the Ptolemaic Period. They enjoyed popularity among Egyptian elite. Tomb scenes depicting monkeys under people's chairs suggest they had a role as pets. These images may also represent sexuality and suggest that monkeys contributed to a human's rebirth in the afterlife.

What did baboons represent?

Because baboons raise their arms every morning to warm their bodies with the light of the sun, and they shout at dawn as if to greet the sun, they are associated with the sun god, Re. They were also associated with Thoth, the god of wisdom, because they were understood as very intelligent animals. Their sometimes aggressive nature led them to be seen as guardians as well.

Baboon Appliqué

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

The baboon, like the ibis, was sacred to the god Thoth. A small number of baboon mummies were buried in the ibis cemeteries. The wooden baboon shown here perhaps was part of a shrine of Thoth as a baboon. The small appliqué also on view was once attached to a baboon mummy. Bronze figurines of baboons, like the third object displayed here, were symbols used by scribes, who worshipped Thoth as the god of writing.

MEDIUM Linen

Reportedly From: Saqqara, Egypt

DATES 305–30 B.C.E.

PERIOD Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS 5 1/2 x 2 3/8 x 1/4 in. (14 x 6 x 0.6 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 37.272E

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

EXHIBITIONS

Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Baboon Appliqué, 305–30 B.C.E. Linen, 5 1/2 x 2 3/8 x 1/4 in. (14 x 6 x 0.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.272E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.272E.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 37.272E.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Can you tell me more about this baboon appliqué?

What did baboons represent?