Statuette of a seated male baboon

The animal is represented as seated on a shallow, almost rectangular base, its tail curved around its right hindquarters, its knees drawn up exposing the genitalia. A cylindrical opening goes vertically through the figure from the crown of the head, expanding at the base. This probably held the conoidal core around which the figure was cast by the lost-wax process. The upper end served for the insertion of the usual moon-disk and crescent which this sacred animal of Thoth so often wears on its head. The surface appears to bear traces of white and vermilion paint under a modern sealing of varnish.

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection 3 volume catalogue, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997).