PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 304-30 B.C.

For a mold of a heron, together with a faience tile made from a similar mold, see nos. 130a-b in Schneider, Life and Death Under the Pharaohs, Egyptian Art from the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, The Netherlands. For another similar depicting a water fowl see no. 15 in Scott, Temple, Tomb and Dwelling: Egyptian Antiquities from the Harer Family Trust Collection. Scott suggests that this mold was probably intended for cold hammering a thin sheet of metal foil. The finished product would then have been affixed to a more complex work. These molds, like the so-called sculptor's models, may also have served a votive function.