Tickets
English
DonateMembership
Tickets

Ba-bird

Ptolemaic Period
332–30 BCE or later
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134
The ba is an aspect of a person's non-physical being. After death, the ba was able to travel out from the tomb, but it had to periodically return to the tomb and be reunited with the mummy. The ba was usually represented as a bird with a human head, and sometimes with human arms.



Ba bird statuettes are among the wooden statues that might accompany a burial in the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. Sometimes they were prepared for attachment to a coffin or certain kinds of stelae. This small beautiful ba-bird is crowned with a sundisk, and wears a gold diadem and red fillet often seen on divine beings. It wears a large broad collar, and a djed-pillar amulet is suspended from its neck. The coloring is vivid, the wings are beautifully variegated, and gilding is applied over the face, collar, and disk.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ba-bird
  • Period: Ptolemaic Period
  • Date: 332–30 BCE or later
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Wood, paint, gold leaf
  • Dimensions: H. 15.5 cm (6 1/8 in.); W. 5.1 cm (2 in.); L. 9.3 cm (3 11/16 in.)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1944
  • Object Number: 44.4.83
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Bowl with flutes f rom shoulder to rosette at base, silver
Bowl with flutes f rom shoulder to rosette at base
4th century BCE
The Bodhisattva Jizō, Intan Japanese, Japanese cypress wood (hinoki) with polychrome pigments, gold paint (kindei), cut gold leaf (kirikane), and rock-crystal eyes, Japan
The Bodhisattva Jizō
Intan
1291
Inlay of the Horus falcon on the hieroglyph for "gold", Faience
Inlay of the Horus falcon on the hieroglyph for "gold"
360–343 BCE
Box-form ornament with granulation, Gold
Box-form ornament with granulation
6th–4th century BCE
Baboon Figurine, Body: wood, gesso, paint, gold leaf; eyes: ivory, glass
Baboon Figurine
305 BCE–364 CE

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.