Clepsydra or water clock with squatting babooon

Clepsydra or water clock with squatting babooon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This piece is considered to be a model of a water clock. Water within could drain from a hole between the baboons legs over a measured time. This object was likely a temple offering to the god Thoth in his role as overseer of knowledge and measurement.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Clepsydra or water clock with squatting babooonClepsydra or water clock with squatting babooonClepsydra or water clock with squatting babooonClepsydra or water clock with squatting babooonClepsydra or water clock with squatting babooon

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.