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Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · figurine

Appliqué of Ptolemy I as Dionysus

Source of record: Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

<p>Ptolemy I (ca. 367-283 BCE) was a Macedonian general in Alexander the Great's army and the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. This relief probably decorated the curved armrest of a bed or other piece of furniture. Ptolemaic rulers were viewed as divine by their Egyptian subjects. They often chose to portray themselves to their Greek subjects in the guise of figures from Greek mythology, such as the Greek wine-god, Dionysus.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/54.598' rel='external'>Appliqué of Ptolemy I as Dionysus</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

Bronze applique fragment depicting a bearded male head with wavy hair or a laurel/wreath-like element, shown from the front against a neutral background.

The image shows a small, rounded bronze applique fragment with a frontal bust/head. The figure has curly or wavy hair around the sides and a beard or moustache area rendered in raised relief. The top of the head has a textured, crown-like form suggesting headgear or a wreath; the exact iconographic elements are not fully legible due to corrosion and damage. No clearly readable inscriptions or cartouches are visible on the fragment, and there are no legible hieroglyphic signs, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text in the provided view.

royal Ptolemaic Period (c. 3rd century BCE), as suggested by catalogue title; exact dating uncertain from image alone fragmentary
Deities Dionysus (as per catalogue; not directly identifiable from visible features alone)
Royals Ptolemy I (as per catalogue; not directly identifiable from visible features alone)
Materials bronze

Connections

Royals Ptolemy IAlexander the Great

Cross-references (2)

  • Walters-AccNum 54.598 tier-2
  • Walters-id 31459 tier-2
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.