Egyptian Art - Anubis with Mummy

Anubis with Mummy

This carving is painted with soft colours from the entire ancient Egyptian colour palette and is mounted on a complimentry angled stand. It measures 15cm x 6cm across the base and 20cm high.

I first carved this design back in 1995 and have revisited it many times to remaster and update the details. This new edition is a version that retains much of the intended colour the  ancients'  would have used however I have softened them to  acheive my desired ancient look. I do varying degrees of the aged look, from the barely there and heavily eroded, to the more intact colours of something that has suffered the passage of time well. This piece falls into the latter category.

Anubis as I have mentioned elsewhere, was for me and many others, the first Egyptian god to make an impact. When you're learning about ancient Egypt in school you are inevitably confronted by the mummification ritual and always present is the patron god of mummification....Anubis. Something about the slender angular face of the jackal,either in profile or front on I still find compelling and sculpturally beautiful. I saw one in the desert once.  A lone lurker prowling the ridges behind the tombs at Aswan. I heard it howl and I howled back as authentic as I could. It was not my time to be mummified.  It scurried off and as it turned to reveal its profile, I saw the pointy ears and that distinctive wedge tail trailing horizontally behind.  I  just thought I'd share this as  I was so thankful to witness it.

Details.

This piece is full of detail arranged to convey one part of the process in the mummification ritual. Anubis leans over a Mummy to perform the opening of the mouth ritual with a ceremonial adze. The priests would wear the Anubis mask and gently touch the mouth of the mummy or the coffin with the adze. This would allow the soul to breathe again in the next world. Quite a tender gesture really and not dark or macabre as the movies portray.

Beneath the bed the Mummy rests upon are several jars that contained ingredients used in the mummification process. A lotus bud and a sprig of  an unidentified plant suggest the oils contained in the jars correspond to them. Fragrant oils and resins were heavily used in mummification and in the case of Tutankhamun, his mummy was nearly drowned in the generous pourings by the ancient priests.

* By request I have researched international postage for this Item to the U.S  and the best I can offer is $39. Europe is a little more at approximately $60 depending on where you live. Remember multiple purchases attract postage discounts overall and no matter where you are from I will do my best. K