Baboon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small figurine depicts a baboon standing on its hinds legs with its arms raised. Baboons often stretch and chatter with the first morning light. Since standing with one's arms raised was an ancient Egyptian gesture for adoration, baboons in this position were seen as greeting and adoring the sun.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art