Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · jewelry

Squatting Baboon

Walters Art Museum (Egyptian), acc. 48.1545. Public domain (CC0). Copy archived by egyptianinscriptions.org with attribution; original at the holding institution.

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Accession: 48.1545
Dynasty: Ptolemaic Dynasty
Date: late 4th-late 1st century BCE (Ptolemaic)
Date range: 332 BCE – 30 BCE
Materials: ['Egyptian faience with light blue glaze']
Repository: Walters Art Museum
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Cite & export

Walters Art Museum (Egyptian), Squatting Baboon (48.1545). Egyptian Inscriptions Database. https://egyptianinscriptions.org/object/220959

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Description

<p>This squatting figure of a baboon has a loop on the back and was used as an amulet-pendant. Baboons could be representations of the god of wisdom Thoth but they appear also as animals greeting the sun god in the morning and the evening. This pendant has no moon disk and crescent on his head and what would be typical for Thoth- Baboon. Therefore, it may represent one of the solar baboons.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/48.1545' rel='external'>Squatting Baboon</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A small light-blue glazed faience figure modeled as a kneeling/squatting baboon, shown from the front with one forelimb raised.

The artifact appears as a compact, vertically oriented faience statuette with a rounded back and a slightly tapering body. The surface is covered in a light blue glaze with areas of wear and minor discoloration (including pale/greenish patches near the base). Incised/relief detailing suggests the baboon’s face and facial features, including a projecting muzzle, and the body posture consistent with a squatting animal. The lower portion forms a stepped/flattened base. No clear hieroglyphs, cartouches, or other textual elements are visible in the provided image. No clearly identifiable deities are depicted beyond the generic animal subject. The form aligns with the museum catalogue’s description of a “Squatting Baboon.”

decorative unlocated; likely Late Period to Ptolemaic/Early Roman period faience animal figurine (approx. 664–30 BCE) good

Materials Egyptian faiencelight blue glaze

Connections

Deities Thoth

Materials Egyptian Faience Light Blue Glaze

Cross-references (2)

Walters-AccNum 48.1545 tier-2
Walters-id 19213 tier-2

About this record's data

From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (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.