Monkey’s Grooming

This small limestone figurine depicts a monkey grooming another, and from the right side a small monkey can be seen grooming another tiny monkey, between the two.
The purpose of this figurine is uncertain, it could have been made just as an amusing trinket. However, the Royal Ontario Museum, where this piece now resides, actually proposes an idea that it could have been a parody of the royal Amarna family, “The group of monkeys can be appreciated on its own as a family grouping perhaps grooming each other.  It may also possibly be interpreted as a parody of the Egyptian royal family of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their daughters, who are frequently shown in intimate poses.”

Amarna art was a groundbreaking step in the Egyptian artistic canon, the royal family were now seen as the intermediaries between man and god, and households were encouraged to have household altars featuring images of the royal family in their household. These images of the family would often depict them in candid poses, such as canoodling with one another under the rays of the Aten.

Monkeys were extremely popular in Egypt. The Met Museum writes that, “The ancient Egyptians kept pet monkeys (baboons as well as the more slender guenons) for amusement and as status symbols. These animals played around the house and accompanied the master on outings. During trips abroad they amused the sailors with their pranks. Fragments from the tomb of Khety may belong to the representation of such a sea voyage with the monkeys running loose around the ship.”

Of course, the God Thoth (Djheuty), as well as being associated with an Ibis, was also identified with the baboon. He also appears as a dog-faced baboon or a man with the head of a baboon when he is A’an, the god of equilibrium. In the form of A’ah-Djehuty, he took a more human-looking form. These forms are all symbolic and are metaphors for Thoth’s attributes. Thoth is often depicted holding an ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life.

Summary:
Limestone figurine of monkey’s grooming
New Kingdom, Late 18th Dynasty, c. 1352-1327 B.C.
Likely from Tel el-Amarna
Royal Ontario Museum, Canada. 948.34.156