Ibis
CultureEgyptian
Date664-32 B.C.E.
MediumBronze and wood
DimensionsOverall: 16 1/2 × 20 1/2 inches (41.91 × 52.07 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number58-4
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 101
Collections
Gallery LabelThe ibis (EYE-bis) was a bird that was special to Thoth, god of wisdom and the moon and patron deity of scribes. The curved beak suggested the crescent moon; its length and sharp tip, a scribe's reed pen.
Hoping for a favor in return, Egyptians regularly sacrificed ibis mummies to Thoth. Our striding ibis with its delicately rendered talons and elegant beak may have held a mummified ibis in its body. Images of Thoth with an ibis head and human body appear on Meret-it-es’ upright inner coffin behind you.
Hoping for a favor in return, Egyptians regularly sacrificed ibis mummies to Thoth. Our striding ibis with its delicately rendered talons and elegant beak may have held a mummified ibis in its body. Images of Thoth with an ibis head and human body appear on Meret-it-es’ upright inner coffin behind you.
With Mathias Komor, New York, stock no. S155, by 1958;
Purchased from Komor by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.
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