Late Period to Ptolemaic Period, Ca. 664-32 BC.A gilt wood and bronze Ibis depicted seated, the body sculpted in wood, covered in gesso and gilt, the closed wings articulated, the legs and the head each separately cast of bronze and inserted, the legs folded under, with a sinuous neck and long hooked bill, the eyes inlaid below ridged brows, two tenons below each leg for insertion. Thoth, a multipurpose god in the Egyptian pantheon associated with language, writing, and intellectual activity, was most often depicted with an ibis head and human body. In the Late Period and Ptolemaic Period, ibises were bred throughout Egypt to be slaughtered, mummified, and offered as votives to Thoth. Gilt, wood, and bronze ibises, such as the present example, were often formed as coffins for mummified ibises, or as boxes for "dummy mummies" formed of straw and mud. With or without the mummy, the ibis-form figure would have likely been an offering to the god. Restored. For a similar see The Vatican Museums, Inventory: MV.37295.0.0. BODY RESTORED. Size: L:55mm / W:120mm ; 75gProvenance: From the private collection of an Essex gentleman; previously in an old British Collection, formed in the 1980s.