The Blue Baboon : A History Revealed.

Patricia Duff

CONTENTS

Introduction

Provenance

Form

Dates

Material

Manufacture

Use

Cosmology and Ideology

And then

Conclusion

References

10

Acknowledgements

11

Endnotes

11

Appendix of additional Images

12

ILLUSTRATIONS

Blue Baboon Statuette

Cover

Fig.1

Statuette showing broken base.

Fig.2

Statuette showing polish

Fig.3

Narmer Baboon

Fig.4

1st Dynasty Baboon

Fig.5

18th Dynasty Baboon

Fig.6

Baboon with Lunar Disk.

Fig.7

Golden Headed Falcon

Fig.8

Anhydrite Dish 12thDynasty

Fig.9

Non-invasive test

Fig.10

Weight of statuette

Fig.11

Stele Ridge

Fig.12

Drilling stone

Fig.13

Worshiping at Dawn .

Fig.14

Son of Ra

Fig.15

Baboon with Wedjet

Fig.16

Canopic Jars

Fig.17

1st & 2nd Dynasty Baboons

Fig.18

Den before enthroned Baboon

Fig.19

Chalcedony Vase

Fig.20

Imagine

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ABSTRACT

A difference of opinion with my supervisor over the possible origins of an Ancient Egyptian
statuette of a Blue Baboon led me on a journey of discovery. During a practical session, we were
told that it was an Early Dynastic or Pre-Dynastic artefact and had been found by Flinders Petrie at
Hierakonpolis and donated to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge as part
of his collection. Because of it's appearance, I suggested it had been roughed out, but broken
during manufacture and consequently discarded. The ensuing debate led to my decision to pursue
the provenance of the object, identify its material and the location of its quarry, and investigate its
place in the life and times of Ancient Egypt. My work revealed that we were probably both wrong.
The museum's Accession Register in fact showed that the Blue Baboon had been acquired from a
collector, Hilton Price, but the details were sparse. I discovered Hilton Price was a foremost
member of the Society of Biblical Archaeologists and research of their proceedings showed the
piece had not come into his possession until after 1897. I was then able to trace its appearance in
a Sotheby's catalogue in the lot in which it was sold together with another artefact with which it
arrived at the museum.
As there was also some doubt as to the material, I conducted a density test. This led me to trace
the probable origin of the raw material. Investigation into the manner in which it would have been
manufactured and used, led me to a more critical appraisal of its form and to suggest that it was
made at a later period than originally posited. Finally, from geological evidence, I was able to
propose alternative trajectories for the life-cycle of the Blue Baboon.

The Blue Baboon : A History Revealed.

Introduction:
During a practical session looking at Early Dynastic
and Pre-Dynastic Egyptian artefacts, Dr. Kate Spence
showed us a rather rough baboon shaped stone. She
told us she thought it had been found by Flinders
Petrie at Hierakonpolis and given to the Archaeological
and Anthropological Museum as part of his collection.
The surface of the rock was pitted and appeared to
have a light calcareous crust. The base of the baboon
had been broken, revealing the lovely opalescent
nature of the blue rock (Fig.1). It appeared that a small
section under the right arm had been polished: the
curator of the museum had taken advantage of this
smooth area on which to write the accession number
in India ink: Z.17421 (Fig.2). As the other stone grave

Fig.1 Statuette showing broken base. Author

goods being shown were all ground and polished, I suggested that we were looking at an object
whose shape had been roughed out, but which had been broken during polishing and, being
no longer able to stand, was cast aside, unfinished. The brief debate that followed led to my
decision to select the blue baboon as the subject for this essay: to the pursuit of its provenance,
the identification of its material, the location of its
quarry, the investigation of its place in the life and
times of Ancient Egypt and my eventual discovery
that we were probably both wrong.
Provenance:
The Museum's Accession Register for Z.17421
(p.235) simply listed Baboon in grey marble from
Africa. The catalogue card gave more information :

Fig.2 Statuette showing polish. Author

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Bluish chalcedony cynocephalic ape

Large part of base missing
Length 13.2
Ex. Hilton Price 4722
Sate cat. (7/11) number 116
Box ? VII dE95
D12 ?
c.f. Endnote a
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Patricia Duff

An on-line search for 'Hilton Price, antiquarian', revealed an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography with a reference to his describing his collection to the Society of Biblical
Archaeology in 1886. It also mentioned a catalogue he published in 1887 and a supplement in
1908.
The Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology are held in the rare book room in Selwyn
College Library. There was brief reference to Hilton Price in 1886, however Volume 7, covering
November 1884 to June 1885, reported that on February 3, 1885 a paper entitled, Notes on the
Antiquities from Bubastis, in the Collection of F.G. Hilton Price , F S A," was read by the Author.
Page 76 states, Mr Price passed onto the animals, of which a large number of figures have
been found, the cat naturally occupying a very prominent position, the others being the monkey,
ram and hawk." Could the statuette have been found at Bubastis ?
On discovering that The Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology were available
online, an electronic search for further references to monkeys, apes or cynocephalus offered no
more results. Price's catalogue published in 1897 is also searchable on-line, however, of the 34
cynocephalus listed among some 4000 entries, none matched the description of the blue
baboon: most were much smaller, only two were of similar size but both of red granite. It can
only be assumed that it had not come into his possession by that time, and thus was not
necessarily from Bubastis.
A further electronic search produced a record of a Sotheby's catalogue for the sale of Egyptian
antiquities in the Property of the Late FG Hilton-Price, Esq (1911). Lot 116 was, A figure of a
Cynocephalus Ape .... (4472), together with, the Head and Forepart of a Lion ... Nagada;
(4890); both extremely interesting and very rare. For a moment it appeared the mystery of
provenance had been solved. However, closer examination of other Lots where multiple objects
were listed showed that the provenance was supplied separately, after each, where it was
known, even if the objects were from the same location. Clearly it was acquired by Price, and
after the publication of his 1897 catalogue.
Unable to locate a copy of the 1908 catalogue in Cambridge I found a copy listed in the library
of the Society of Antiquaries. The Librarian kindly sent me a scan of the relevant page (81):
Cynocephalus Ape, seated in the usual manner; a hole drilled in the head for the insertion of a
head ornament, probably a lunar disk. Rough work. H 5! in. Blue Agate (?). Probably XII th
dynasty. No provenance1. Moreover, and importantly, no mention of the base being broken;
this was striking, as mention is made of it as seated in the usual manner, suggesting there was
1

. Time permitting, it might be possible to obtain more information from Hilton Price's personal notes and correspondence.
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nothing wrong with the base. As neither Price's nor Sotheby's catalogues mention the damage,
it would be reasonable to assume it occurred after that time. Could it have occurred in our own
museum ? a
Form:
Representations of baboons are found throughout Egypt from
Pre-Dynastic until Roman times. Baboons from early Dynastic
times, unless very small, have long, clearly defined legs as can
be seen from the tall, alabaster baboon
(Fig.3) with Narmer's serekh; or from
the 1st Dynasty faence baboon (Fig.4)
from Abydos. Middle Kingdom baboons
were less elongated, slightly squatter
and the fur designed as a close fitting
cape around the shoulders somewhat

Fig.3 Narmer Baboon

Fitzwilliam Museum

like the Heb-Seb festival cloak worn by kings. Just as it was for kings,
this might have been used to denote godly status. By the 18th Dynasty
Fig.4 1st Dynasty Baboon
Fitzwilliam Museum

the baboon form

had become even squatter, the legs

hardly defined and the fur cape more pronounced (Fig.5). The
blue baboon is not elongated in length and the legs are not
clearly defined, the fur cape is defined, but it is not as squat as
those from the New Kingdom: the form of the blue baboon
seems to accord with that typical of the Middle Kingdom.
Date:
The hole drilled in the head of the

Fig.5 18th Dynasty Baboon

Ashmunein Museum

baboon shows that it was destined to wear a head-dress. In

accepting that the baboon is representing Djehewtey and his
association with the moon (see below) the head-dress would most
probably have been a crescent moon with the lunar disk (Fig.6).
The use of such head-dresses dates from the Middle kingdom and
continues past the Pharaonic period. Thus the baboon could not
have been made before the 11th Dynasty (Wilkinson p.c.) but may
Fig.6 Baboon & Lunar Disk.
Louvre Museum

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have been made as late as the 21st Dynasty (Ashton p.c.). There
are examples pf artefacts, such as the golden headed falcon
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(Fig.7) found at Hierakonpolis (Friedman 2009), which were made at an earlier period but
embellished at a later time. I would argue against the
suggestion that this statuette could have been
originally made in the Early Dynastic Period and later
have the hole drilled for a head-dress in the 12th
Dynasty because the form is not as those produced in
earlier times.

Fig.7 Golden Headed Falcon Cairo Museum

Material:

Chalcedony is a translucent microcrystalline quartz and includes agate, onyx and chrysoprase.
It has a Mohs hardness of 6.5 - 7 and is ideal for carved objects. It is widely available in Egypt
chiefly in the Eastern Desert, its colours are various depending on the amount of oxides: honey,
brown and red from iron oxide and green from nickel oxide (Aston et al 2000). Blue is rare and
was the reason for the doubt surrounding the identification of the rock from which the baboon
was made.
Dr. Toby Wilkinson examined the statuette and suggested
it was Anhydrite, as did Dr. Sally-Anne Ashton. Anhydrite
has the same composition as alabaster gypsum and is
softer with a Mohs value of 2. Although usually white, the
Egyptians exploited an unusual blue variety in the Middle
Kingdom and second Intermediate Period mostly small
jars and bottles (Aston et al 2000). The National Museums
of Scotland have a dish, of Anhydrite, from the 12th
Dynasty (Fig.8) decorated with monkeys, often kept as
Fig.8 Anhydrite Dish12th Dynasty
National Museums Scotland

pets in Egypt, which at 12.8cm in diameter is relatively

large.

Dr Spence arranged for Dr Judith Bunbury to look at the object in an attempt to determine
whether it was indeed made of Chalcedony as stated in the museum catalogue. Having worked
at the quarries at Stele Ridge at Gebel el-Asr, she felt the baboon was a very close match for
the material she saw there. Nevertheless, Dr. Bunbury admitted the material is quite odd, that
it looked like chalcedony but with a small amount of unusual opalescence. As there was no
consensus a scientific experiment was required.

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The density of Anhydrite is 2.9 g/cm3 and the density of Quartz is 2.6 g/cm3 ; if the volume of
the baboon could be established, then an equation of weight divided by volume would establish
the density (Bunbury p.c). The easiest way of calculating volume is by displacement in water,
however Anhydrite would suffer damage in water so another medium had to be sought. As fine
sand was only available in bags of several kilos, I turned to semolina. After weighing, the blue
baboon was placed in a small box and 2kg of semolina were added to cover the statuette
completely.
The box was tapped well to settle the semolina which was
smoothed over with card. The level of the semolina was
marked with a pen. The baboon was lifted out and the box
tapped well to settle the semolina
which was again smoothed over
with card.
Fig.9 Non-invasive test

Author

The new, lower level of semolina

was marked with a pen (Fig.9) and a measurement taken of the

depth the semolina had fallen. The inside of the box was measured
so the volume of space vacated by baboon was calculated:
1cm x 23cm x 16cm = 368cm3
As the statuette weighed 949.7gms (Fig.10) the density of the

Fig.10 Weight of statuette

Author

Manufacture:
Typically statuettes would have been shaped from a
nodule using stone hammers tied to a couple of
sticks with leather thongs. Other implements
available to shape the stone were copper chisels
and adzes, flint punches, chisels and scrapers. The
skilled craftsmen would have known their material
and worked with the crystalline structure (which for
Chalcedony is in parallel layers) to best achieve the
effect.
The slim cylindrical hole in the head would have

Fig.12 Drilling stone

Stocks 1993

been drilled out by a bow-drill with a corer or tube

type of end made o daily offerings of food and drink. There is evidence of them being purified
with fragrant incenf copper or copper alloy, force fitted onto a shaft (Fig.12), with the use of dry
sand containing relatively large quartz crystals to assist cutting. When finished the object would
have been polished using pebbles, sandstone rubbers and abrasive wet sand (Stocks 1993).
Use :
Cult statues, such as this appears to be, were usually placed on a plinth in temples and shrines
and venerated withse, oiled and clothed. In some cases there were rituals associated with
festivals, where the statue was displayed to the general public by means of being carried about
in a boat and sometimes also visiting other cult shrines. It was believed that the cult statue was
imbued with the Ba energy of the God (Teeter 2009). There is no evidence to illustrate how or
where this statuette of Djehewtey was worshipped. Being of a rare stone and beautifully carved
and polished, it would have been expensive and thus only available to the elite. There is little
evidence that it would have been placed in a shrine of a private house: private religion focused
on imploring and placating ancestors and on fertility concerns (Gahlin 2009). Djehewtey was a
deity for the community and of considerable importance, as is shown when he is depicted with
Maat on either side of Ra in his boat; not only did he have a major cult centre at Khemennu,
there were also shrines to Djehewtey at Abydos, Talmis, and Taur (Budge 1904).
Cosmology and Ideology:
To understand why baboons were venerated by the Egyptians and appeared in multiple forms
from tiny amulets to enormous 35ton statues, is it is necessary to delve into their complex
cosmology.

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Djehewtey is the 'Middle Egyptian' name for the god shaped as a baboon. His cult centre was
located at Khemenu, which means the Eight" referring to the four pairs of male and female
gods representing lack of visibility, lack of bounds, lack of direction and lack of light: the
principles of Nun, an expanse of nothingness from which the creation was made (Quirke 1992).
Djehewtey, also called Thoth by the Greeks, was considered god of the moon the lesser
companion to the sun.
The link with baboons is a reflection of their apparent worshipping"
of the sun (Fig.13) at dawn with their chatter (Quirke 1992) or the
setting of the moon. It is thus that Djehewtey came to be
represented wearing the headdress of crescent moon and lunar
disc.
Djehewtey is also associated with knowledge and wisdom, and, as
the herald of the gods, he plays an interesting role in the reification
of divine kingship. When the sun god is allegedly concerned about
Fig.13 Worshiping at Dawn
Chessalee

having an earthly representative, it is Djehewtey who takes the news

to the reigning king and queen that they will become surrogate

parents for the sun god 's offspring, who is made, with his Ka, by the god Khnum from clay on a
potter's wheel. Although this involvement of Djehewtey is not
recorded until Hatshepsut's time, when, possibly, it was conceived,
the divinity of the king was a core belief whose earliest
manifestation can be seen in the title Son of Ra" (Fig.14) from the
4th Dynasty (Quirke 1992). This early example of the use of a belief
system to promote political ends is only one of many propagandistic

Fig.14 S3 R

Per-ao.com

elements that the royals adopted to manipulate their subjects and

establish their own identity.
The right eye of the early creation god Horus is thought of as the
sun and his left, as the moon. Horus, as protector of the fertile
Nile Valley was constantly struggling against his eternal enemy
Seth, the God of the arid desert. His left eye was plucked out,
but Djehewtey restored his eye and magically healed it (Andrews
1998). For Egyptians the monthly waxing and waning of the
moon has the double significance as the loss of the left eye of
Horus and its healing by Djehewtey.

According to the Osiris

legend, after his defeat by Seth and his death, Horus offered
Osiris his healed eye (Fig.15). Its powers were such that it
brought Osiris back to life. The healing and protective powers of
Fig.15 Wedjet Ancient-Egypt.org

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the eye are commemorated in the wedjet (Andrews 1998).

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One of the manifestations of Djehewtey is as the god A'An, the God of equilibrium who as a
baboon sits on the balance while the heart is weighed against the feather of Ma'at. Order and
equilibrium are important principles in the life of Egyptians as they maintain their guard against
chaos and upheaval. As time went by Djehewtey became associated not only with the cycles of
the moon which regulated religious rituals and events but also with measurement, regulation,
arbitration and cyclical time (Andrews 1998).
Other gods are associated with baboons. Hapi one of the
four sons of Horus is represented as a baboon notably
when his head is depicted on Canopic jars (Fig.16) which
held the lungs. Like his brothers he is linked with the
souls of Horus, Pe and Nekhen, from whom were
allegedly descended kings of Egypt (Faulkener 1969). It
can only be assumed that Hapi takes the image of the
baboon because of the link with knowledge and wisdom.
Fig.16 Canopic Jars Risicrucian Museum

Even earlier than images of

Djehewtey and Hapi as baboons,
are statuettes of Hedjwer
(meaning Great White) from 1st
and 2nd Dynasties such as those
in the British Museum (Fig.17).
Budge (1904) suggested the
earliest Egyptians regarded the
knowledge, intelligence and

Fig.17 1st & 2nd Dynasty Baboons

British Museumz

cunning of the ape as proof of their divine nature. This, together with their virility, also linked with
super-human feats, was perhaps why Early Dynastic kings associated themselves with
baboons: the seal impression of Den before an enthroned baboon (Fig.18); Narmer's serekh on
the baboon statue; Netjerikhet's panel showing him standing with a baboon at Great White's
shrine (Wilkinson 1999).
By the beginning of the Middle Kingdom Hedjwer
appears to have been re-invented as the baboon
manifestation of Djewhety who from earliest
times was always and only an ibis.
Clearly the blue baboon is neither a
representation of Hapi nor Hedjwer. Not only
Fig.18 Den before enthroned Baboon British
Museum
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because Hedjwer is rarely identified after the Old

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Patricia Duff

Kingdom (Wilkinson 1999) and not only because Hapi retains a more realistic baboon shape
while Djehewtey becomes stockier over time, but because turquoise and other shades of blue
are significant to Egyptians and are specifically linked to Djehewtey and his association with the
moon. It must be noted that Egyptians did not differentiate between the colours green and blue:
the word wadj signified all shades in the green/blue spectrum linking the re-growth of
vegetation, the watery abyss of the underworld and Osiris' flesh: symbolising regeneration,
immortality and rebirth, as did the moon (Friedman 1998).
And then
The conchoidal fractures, surface pitting and the calcareous crust indicate that the statuette did
not rest peacefully in a tomb chamber since it was made. The surface damage could have been
caused by being buried in the ground, where precipitation would have formed a deposit of
calcium carbonate (Larsen p.c.). Alternatively, the pitting is such as might have been caused by
abrasions of sand and gravel as would have happened if the statuette had spent some time in a
river (Bunbury p.c.). One might imagine during a famine, such as indicated in Hekanakhte's
letters, and political unrest in the 12th Dynasty, or in the upheaval of the 2nd Intermediate Period
(Shaw 2000) that the statuette might have been grabbed as trophy and in ensuing flight,
dropped in the Nile. However, perhaps the Nile moves too slowly to have caused such
abrasion? The question remains as to how the small polished area under the left arm remained
unscathed: specialist testing would be required to formulate an opinion. In any event it is clear
that the base was broken long after the surface was damaged, as it is, like the chipped portion
on the rear, smooth and unblemished showing the opalescence of the stone and giving an idea
of how the polished baboon would have once been seen.
In conclusion:
There are still many questions unanswered; examination
of Price's papers might assist with provenance. Some
experimental sculpting and polishing of Chalcedony may
help to clarify if indeed it was finished as I have argued.

Fig.19 Chalcedony Vase

Fitzwilliam Museum

The density test has shown the material to be

Chalcedony and unless further evidence to the contrary emerges, it is reasonable to assign its
source to the quarry at Stele Ridge and it's manufacture to the early Middle Kingdom. Clearly it
is a representation of Djehewtey with the association of blue and the moon: an exquisite
statuette, whose polished finish could be imagined like that of the chalcedony vase (Fig.19).
It was an extremely fine object. Topped with the crescent moon and lunar disk in gold, it would
have sat resplendent.

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References :
Andrews, C.

1998 Egyptian Mummies British Museum Press

Aston, G. B. Harrell, J. Shaw, I. 2000 Stone in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology ed.
Nicholson P.T. & Shaw, I. (pp25-29)
Budge, E. A. W. 1904 Gods of the Egyptians
Faulkner, R.O. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts 1969. Clarenden
Friedman, F.D. 1998 Faience: the Brilliance of Eternity in Gifts of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian
Faience Friedman, F.D., Boromeo, G. Leveque, M. eds. Thames & Hudson
Friedman, R. 2009 Hierakonpolis 2006: The Decorated Tombs of Hierakonpolis
www.archaeology.org/interactive/hierakonpolis/field/tombs06.html
Gahlin, L. 2009 Private religion in The Egyptian world ed. Wilkinson, T. Routledge
Quirke, S. 1992

Ancient Egyptian Religion British Museum Press

Murray G.W. 1939 The Road to Chephren's Quarries in Geographical Journal, v 94# 2
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1787245
Price, H. 1897 A Catalogue of the Egyptian antiquities in the possession of FG Hilton Price
Dir.S.A. B. Quaritch
www.archive.org/stream/catalogueofegypt00pric#page/n5/mode/2up
Price, H. 1908 A Catalogue of the Egyptian antiquities in the possession of FG Hilton Price
Dir.S.A. B. Quaritch
Shaw, I. 2000 Ancient Egypt O.U.P.
Shaw, I. Bunbury, J. et al 2001 Survey and excavation at the Gebel el-Asr gneiss and quartz
quarries in Lower Nubia (1997-2000) in antiquity volume 75 number 287 March 2001
http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/Pre2003/ShawI/shawi.html
Sotheby 1911 Catalogue of the Egyptian antiquities in the possession of the Late FG Hilton
Price London
Stocks, D. 1993 Making stone vessels in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt in Antiquity 67
596-603
Teeter, E. 2009 Temple Cults in Egyptian World ed. Wilkinson, T. Routledge
Wilkinson, T. 1999 Early Dynastic Egypt Routledge
Wilkinson, T. 2009 The Egyptian World Routledge
*

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35609

Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology
www.archive.org/stream/proceedings07soci#page/76/mode/2up

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Acknowledgements:
I am extremely grateful for the assistance and guidance in my project to the following :
Sally-ann Ashton
Wendy Brown
Judith Bunbary
Imogen Gunn
Curt Larsen
Lesley-Ann Liddiard,
John Ray
Toby Wilkinson

Senior Assistant Keeper, Egyptian Collection Fitzwilliam Museum

Archivist & Administrator, Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
Department of Earth Sciences
Curatorial Assistant, Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
Geoarcheologist, Geoarcheology Research Associates, New York
Assistant Curator Dept. of World Cultures, National Museums Scotland
Sir Herbert Thompson Professor of Egyptology
Egyptologist

and most especially to Kate Spence who gave me the opportunity to fulfil this quest.

I was able to confirm that

Ex. Hilton Price 4722 was the item number in Prices 1908 catalogue;
Sate cat. (7/11) number 116 refers to the Lot number in the Sothebys catalogue of 1911;
Box ? VII dE95 was the original storage box number for the object in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
a

B The

Museum has no record of the breakage: the catalogue card describes Large part of base missing. Interestingly,
the lions legs which, according to Sothebys catalogue have been made in separate pieces, and were pinned onto
the body, are also missing.
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Appendix of Additional Images

Textual Sources

Image of Hilton Price's Catalogue, published in 1908

Image of Sotheby's Catalogue, published 1911

Middle Kingdom Baboon / Djehewtey Statuettes


















Christie's Middle Kingdom

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Pytei c2040-1782BC

Patricia Duff


Baboon / Djehewtey Statuettes with Lunar Disks














Drilled hole for head-dress Author





Louvre Museum New Kingdom


















Aswan Museum New Kingdom

British Museum 18th Dynasty

Metropolitan Museum 18th Dynasty
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Patricia Duff