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

细节

AN EGYPTIAN WOOD AND BRONZE IBIS
LATE PERIOD TO PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.
Depicted reclining, the body sculpted in wood and covered in gesso, the head, tail and legs each separately cast of bronze and inserted, the legs folded under, the wrinkles of the toes each incised, tenons below, with a sinuous neck, two deep grooves along the length of the long hooked bill, the eyes recessed for now-missing inlays, the tail with incised zigzag, the closed wings articulated along the sides of the body
16¾ in. (42.5 cm.) long

来源

with Khodary M. El Gabry, Cairo, 1970.

荣誉呈献

G. Max Bernheimer

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拍品专文

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.