Vatican Museums

The two statues offer a canonical representation of a baboon (papio hamadryas L.), seated on a plinth with its front paws resting on its knees, the hind legs apart, the sexual attributes clearly highlighted, and the tail coiled against the right flank. The eyes of specimen no. 22651 were probably produced in another material, while those of no. 22652 were rendered in relief with engraved details. The ample pelt of the bust is presented in both cases as a thick compact mass characterised by scale-like elements, while on the chest there is a plate, empty and in the form of a naos in no. 22651, rectangular and smooth in no. 22652.
The two baboons are in an excellent state of conservation, with the surface slightly abraded but with abundant remains of red colour (especially in no. 22652) on the snout and up to the side tufts, on the sex and on the paws.
Comparison with similar statues of baboons discovered in situ in the area of the temple of Knonsu at Karnak has enabled it to be deduced that such depictions represent a hypostatic aspect of the god “Khonsu-in-Thebes”, a deity assimilated, during the New Kingdom, in a particular form of the God Thoth, whose animal hypostasis was indeed the baboon.