Group of Three Monkeys
ca. 1352-1336 B.C.E.
Maker Unknown
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
The British archaeologist and Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie found at least twenty-three crudely modeled figures of monkeys in a dump at Amarna in 1891–92. Some of the figures play harps, lyres, or flutes. Others hold their young, eat or drink, and even drive chariots. These figures have been interpreted as popular caricatures of the royal family. If this was their true purpose, then acceptance of royal dogma, including respect for the king and the god Aten, was not nearly as complete as Akhenaten imagined.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Formatted Medium
- Limestone, pigment
- Locations
- Possible place made: Tell el-Amarna, Egypt
- Dynasty
- late Dynasty 18
- Dimensions
- 3 15/16 × 1 5/8 × 1/2 in. (10 × 4.2 × 1.3 cm)
- Accession Number
- 16.81
- Credit Line
- Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour
- Exhibitions
- Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Ancient Egyptian Art
- Rights Statement
- Creative Commons-BY
- Museum Location
- This item is not on view
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