Baboon, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (6.4 x 3.8 x 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 59.199.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 59.199.3_print_bw_SL5.jpg)
Baboon, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (6.4 x 3.8 x 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 59.199.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.59.199.3_erg2.jpg)
Baboon, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (6.4 x 3.8 x 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 59.199.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 59.199.3_NegA_print_bw_SL5.jpg)
Baboon
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
Baboons warm their stomachs by sitting up, raising their paws, and facing the sun each morning, a behavior the Egyptians interpreted as solar worship. Baboon figures were included in burials to assist in the deceased’s rebirth. Wild baboons had all but disappeared from around the Nile Valley by the Middle Kingdom, when this figure was made. Female baboons were placid enough to be domesticated and kept as pets, but they had to be imported at great cost from central Africa, making them exotic luxuries and conspicuous status symbols.
MEDIUM
Faience
DATES
ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E.
DYNASTY
Dynasty 12 to early Dynasty 13
PERIOD
Middle Kingdom
DIMENSIONS
2 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (6.4 x 3.8 x 4.4 cm)
(show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
59.199.3
CREDIT LINE
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Faience statuette of seated cynocephalus ape in conventional pose, hands on knees, frontal. Base has rounded back. Remains of a blue-green glaze.
Condition: Only scattered patches of glaze remain. Left hand of ape worn.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
CAPTION
Baboon, ca. 1938–1700 B.C.E. Faience, 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (6.4 x 3.8 x 4.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 59.199.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 59.199.3_print_bw_SL5.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, Neg A; source material provided by curitorial dep, 59.199.3_print_bw_SL5.jpg., 2017
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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