Statue of a Scribe with a Baboon in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2026

Title: Statue of a scribe with a baboon

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside Period

Date: ca. 1295–1070 BCE

Medium: Granodiorite

Dimensions: H. 22.3 × W. 13.2 × D. 15 cm, 5.4 kg (8 3/4 × 5 3/16 × 5 7/8 in., 12 lb.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1929

Object No.: 29.2.16


While Thoth’s ibis-headed form is often depicted writing with a pen and palette, his baboon form, which gained prominence in late Dynasty 18 and the Ramesside Period, is particularly closely associated with scribes. The motif of the baboon and scribe symbolizes divine protection and the god’s watchful eye over one’s work. Thoth also records the passage of time, and as such the baboon appears on water clocks and other measuring instruments.

See Also: Water clock decorated with a baboon
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.194.2341)

Figurine of a baboon on a basket and with a pillar (shebet offering, possibly a symbolic water clock)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1910 (10.176.45)

Figurine of a baboon
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift (26.7.874)

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/divine-egypt/exhibition-objects