Crocodile Head and Ibis
Description
Object Label: In the Old Kingdom (circa 2670–2195 B.C.) silver was more valuable than gold, but this gradually changed. By the New Kingdom gold was twice as valuable as silver, and by the Ptolemaic Period it was thirteen times as valuable. This, along with the corrosiveness of silver, may explain why many of the silver sculptures known from ancient Egypt are Ptolemaic in date. Caption: Crocodile Head and Ibis, 305–30 B.C.E.. Silver, 13/16 x 9/16 x 1 9/16 in. (2 x 1.5 x 3.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 68.83.1. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A small sculpture of a crocodile head.
The artifact is a metal sculpture depicting a crocodile head, noted for its detailed representation of the animal's features, including textured skin and a pronounced jaw. The composition reflects skilled craftsmanship indicative of symbolic or religious significance. The piece is mounted on a simple stand, offering a clear view of its three-dimensional form.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 68.83.1 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3771 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.