Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · statue

Ibis

Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access), acc. 53.185a. Public domain (CC0). Copy archived by egyptianinscriptions.org with attribution; original at the holding institution.

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Accession: 53.185a
Find spot: Hermopolis (Ashmunein; Khemenu), Middle Egypt approx. site location
Period: Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
Date: 600–30 B.C.
Date range: 600 BCE – 30 BCE
Materials: ['wood', 'gesso', 'linen', 'paint', 'bronze', 'glass (eyes)']
Repository: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
At source: View original →

Cite & export

Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access), Ibis (53.185a). Egyptian Inscriptions Database. https://egyptianinscriptions.org/object/35812

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Description

Figure, Ibis. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, 600–30 B.C. Wood, gesso, linen, paint, bronze, glass (eyes). L. 47 cm (18 1/2 in.); W. 15.3 cm (6 in.); H. 33 cm (13 in.). Probably from: Hermopolis (Ashmunein; Khemenu), Middle Egypt. Subject: Birds. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1953.

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 painted, taxidermy-like bird figure posed in profile on a modern support base, with a blackish head and long curved beak and a brown mottled body.

The image shows a single bird sculpture identified in the catalog as an ibis. The head and neck are dark/black with smooth modeling, and the beak is long, slender, and strongly curved downward. The body is rounded and painted brown/orange with mottled darker speckling, and there is a visible join at the underside where a narrow metal rod or support element extends to the display base. The base appears modern (light-colored). No leg/foot details are clearly visible beyond the support hardware. There are no clearly legible hieroglyphs or other scripts visible anywhere on the object or base. The eyes appear small and reddish/amber-like, suggesting glass or another inlaid material, though the exact material cannot be confirmed from the photo.

decorative Late Period–Ptolemaic Period (per catalogue) good

Deities Thoth (ibis association; not explicitly depicted/inscribed in the image)

Materials painted surfacemetal support element/rodglass-like eye (uncertain)

Connections

Found at Hermopolis

Materials Painted Surface Glass-Like Eye

Cross-references (4)

Wikidata-Q Q116282213 tier-1
Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
Inventory-Number 53.185a tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
MET-Object 546053 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)

About this record's data

From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
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.