Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian) · statue
Plaque Depicting a Quail Chick
Description
Remarkable for its lifelike detail, this plaque depicts a fledgling quail, better known to literate Egyptians as the hieroglyph for the sound w. Plaques like this one that show animals, deities, and royalty were a relatively late addition to the ancient Egyptian artistic repertoire, first appearing around 664 BCE. Their function remains a mystery—they may have been used as sculptors’ models in the training of artists, dedicated in temples as gifts to the gods, or perhaps both.
Cross-references (1)
- ARTIC-id 121724 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian).
- 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.