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Relief panel showing two baboons offering the wedjat eye to the sun god Khepri, who holds the Underworld sign

Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
400–200 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134
In this scene, two baboons offer wedjat eyes to Khepri, the newborn sun represented by a beetle. In his front legs Khepri holds a disk with a star, which is the sign for the Duat or Underworld, and beneath him there is a sun with rays. The baboons are similar to the baboons often shown heralding the sunrise by dancing and screeching, but here they seem to be associated with Thoth by the wedjat (eye) signs they hold, and perhaps also by the shen-rings they wear on their heads that resemble the moon disk and horns often worn by the Thoth baboon.

The baboons here are depicted with ears (one is worn away) and with fanning fingertips, the latter characteristic of the 30th dynasty. The upper hand of the baboon at the right differs, apparently having been damaged and restored before the relief reached the museum.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Relief panel showing two baboons offering the wedjat eye to the sun god Khepri, who holds the Underworld sign
  • Period: Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
  • Date: 400–200 BCE
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Limestone
  • Dimensions: H. 30.9 cm (12 3/16 in.); W. 39.3 cm (15 1/2 in.); D. 6 cm (2 3/8 in.)
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Fletcher Fund and The Guide Foundation Inc. Gift, 1966
  • Object Number: 66.99.73
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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