À propos des figurines animales dans l’Égypte ancienne

Taking the theme of "Animal figurines in the ancient world", some propositions are made concerning the documentary sources for ancient Egypt. To begin with, it may be noted that the term "animal figurine" is not commonly encountered in the Egyptological literature and its use seems to be restricted to objects that cannot be classified amongst the statuettes or amulets. Furthermore, the occurrence of unglazed figurines of baked clay seem to be characteristic of urban sites, indicative of a more varied social context than that encountered in city cemeteries. The latter effectively form the principal source for the collections held in museum collections. Even if the Egyptian texts occasionally refer to the manufacture of animal figurines, specifically in a magical context it is rare to be able to relate those figurines to the objects recovered from excavations.