Paddle Doll
Description
Object Label: “Paddle dolls” earned their nickname because of their resemblance to modern Ping-Pong paddles. They all show exaggerated depictions of female genitalia. Some are decorated with rudimentary drawings of couples engaged in sexual intercourse, and others have images of birth-gods. The imagery of birth and reproduction suggests that “paddle dolls” enhanced fertility for the living and probably also for the dead. Caption: Paddle Doll, ca. 2008–1630 B.C.E.. Wood, mud, flax, faience, pigment, 8 x 2 1/16 in. (20.3 x 5.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.84. (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 wooden cosmetic spoon depicting a female figure with detailed hair.
The artifact is a wooden spoon carved in the shape of a woman with exceptional craftsmanship. The figure features a stylized body and a detailed decoration representing hair, likely made from a separate material. This form suggests a utilitarian object with a decorative purpose, possibly used in daily grooming rituals. The overall design is typical of cosmetic implements from the period.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 16.84 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3145 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.