Paddle Doll
Description
Object Label: So-called paddle dolls are flat, schematic representations of naked, legless female figures on which jewelry, belts, and other details have been painted or drawn. Made as fertility figures, they were dedicated to goddesses by women or couples hoping to have children. Some are adorned with strings of mud pellets, apparently imitating hair. Many also have painted images— possibly representing tattoos—of deities such as Bes and Taweret or of human couples in sexual embrace. Caption: Paddle Doll, ca. 2081–1700 B.C.E.. Wood, pigment, 8 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 1/4 in. (22.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.101E.
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.
An anthropomorphic painted wooden paddle-shaped object with raised arms and a long, skirt-like body filled with patterned bands and vertical motifs.
The image shows a single, flat paddle-like figure carved from wood, with a narrow top/head section and outstretched arms. The body resembles a stylized female dress with multiple horizontal bands near the lower portion. Across the center there are repeated vertical, sign-like elements (resembling rows of short bars and dots) forming a columnar pattern. The surface is painted with red/orange background and turquoise/green-blue and black pigment details, including small dots and blocky shapes distributed along the lower field. No clear cartouches or alphabetic script are visible. No distinct recognizable deity attribute is unambiguous; the figure is best described as a generic painted anthropomorphic doll/paddle as per the catalogued subject.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.101E tier-2
- BKM-Object 3964 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.