LATE PERIOD TO PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN GILT WOOD AND BRONZE IBIS
LATE PERIOD TO PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.
Depicted seated, the body sculpted in wood, covered in gesso and gilt, the closed wings articulated, the legs and the head each separately cast of bronze and inserted, the legs folded under, the forelegs and talons incised with crosshatching, with a sinuous neck and long hooked bill, two deep grooves along the length of the bill, the eyes inlaid below ridged brows, two tenons below each leg for insertion
12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm.) high excluding tenons

Provenance

Acquired by the current owner's mother in the 1960s.

Lot Essay

Thoth, a multipurpose god in the Egyptian pantheon associated with language, writing and intellectual activity, was most often depicted with an ibis head and human body. In the Late Period and Ptolemaic Period, ibises were bred throughout Egypt to be slaughtered, mummified and offered as votives to Thoth. Gilt, wood and bronze ibises, such as the present example, were often formed as coffins for mummified ibises, or as boxes for "dummy mummies" formed of straw and mud. With or without the mummy, the ibis-form figure would have likely been an offering to the god. For a fine ibis coffin and a further description of the type, see no. 91 in Fazzini, et al., Ancient Egyptian Art in the Brooklyn Museum.

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