The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Baboon on a Limestone Base

Baboon on a Limestone Base

380–30 BCE
(715–332 BCE), Dynasty 30–Greco-Roman period (332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)
pale turquoise faience
Overall: 10 x 4.5 x 7.5 cm (3 15/16 x 1 3/4 x 2 15/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin 1988.154
Location: 107 Egyptian

Did You Know?

The statuette is made from Egyptian faience and is glazed with a pale, semigloss turquoise.

Description

This finely carved Papio hamadrayas baboon squats low on a base, hands on knees in a traditional pose, copied from nature. Mane and mantle are incised with a scalloped pattern to imitate tufts of fur, and the sides of the face are stippled or dotted. The separate limestone base is ancient; judging by the inscription it does not belong with the statuette, which has been glued onto it in modern times. It reads, "Words spoken by Harpocrates, given life and health, lord of heaven, (on behalf of) Padiuser, the son of Usernakht and [mother's name uncertain]."
The baboon is the sacred animal of Thoth, god of the moon and of writing, and guide of the deceased in the underworld. Thoth's cult reached immense popularity in the Late and Ptolemaic periods (the Greeks identified him with Hermes). Statuettes of Thoth as a baboon are common, although not nearly as numerous as presentations of Thoth's other animal manifestation, the sacred Ibis.
  • 1971-1988
    Collection of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin [Muriel Spiro] (1915-2008), Cleveland, OH
    1988-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Kozloff, Arielle P. Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection. 1981. p. 67, no. 55
    “The Year in Review for 1988.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 76, no. 2 (1989). no. 5 www.jstor.org
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced: p. 440; Mentioned: p. 440-1
    Fortenberry, Diane, ed. The Art Museum. London; New York: Phaidon Press, 2017. Reproduced: P. 20, no. 2
  • The Year in Review for 1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 14, 1989).
  • {{cite web|title=Baboon on a Limestone Base|url=false|author=|year=380–30 BCE|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1988.154