LOT 0524

Romano-Egyptian Statuette of Thoth in Baboon Form

ROMAN PERIOD, 30 B.C.-323 A.D.

4 1/8 in. (243 grams, 10.6 cm).

Carved hardstone figure of a Hamadryas Baboon (papio hamadryus), sacred to Thoth, crouching with his forepaws resting on his knees and wearing a segmented and banded hood and collar with elaborately carved textural detailing; face chipped and lower body absent. [No Reserve]

Ex Yorkshire, UK, collection, 1960s-1980s.

Cf. Loffet, H.C., La Collection Emmacha: Antiquités Égyptiennes 2 – Objets divers, Paris, 2013, pp.84-7 no.105, for a stone baboon with a similarly elaborate decorated collar; Bartman, E., The Ince Blundell Collection of Classical Sculpture Volume III. The Ideal Sculpture, Liverpool, 2017, pp.185-6, pl.162a, for a baboon statuette with less stylised rendering.

The baboon was considered an embodiment of the god Thoth. The animal was associated with both the sun and the moon, often depicted wearing a moon and crescent headgear. Together, these aspects symbolised the cycle of rebirth, as it was believed that the deceased travelled through the night and was reborn at dawn. Thoth was highly regarded for his connection to knowledge, healing, and writing. Scribes would wear a Thoth baboon amulet to ensure continued professional success. In the Roman era, Thoth became the 'primary pseudonymous authority for diverse priestly texts' (Frankfurter, D., Religion in Roman Egypt,New Jersey, 1998, p.240). As some religious centres with animal cults were maintained in the Roman Period, it is possible that this figurine was a votive offering to the god. Baboon figurines have also been discovered in Isis sanctuaries in Rome. This discovery may indicate the mythological connection between the two deities, as Thoth provides words to Isis, enabling her to revive her husband, Osiris.