Thaïs, a courtesan and actress in early Christian Alexandria, is the subject of an opera written in 1894 by Jules Massenet. Based on a story by Anatole France and one of the composer's most popular works, the opera was performed in Paris almost annually until after World War II.

cf. V. Arwas, Art Deco Sculpture: Chryselephantine Statuettes of the Twenties and Thirties, London, 1975, p. 58, illus.; B. Catley, Art Deco and Other Figures, Suffolk, England, 1978, p. 95 for other examples.