WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
The statue of the Anubis, depicted completely in animal form was attached to the roof of the shrine. Just over three feet long, it crouched protectively near the entrance to the Treasury. Carved of wood that has been covered with a black resin, the life-size statue has gilded ears, collar and scarf. Each side contains a central pattern bordered on three sides by an inscription. Symbols of the gods Isis and Osiris occur in some of the panels.
WHAT IS IT MADE OUT OF?
This jackal lying on the shrine is made from wood, covered with black paint. The insides of the ears, the eyebrows, and the rims of the eyes of the animal are worked in gold leaf, as well as the collar and the band knotted around the neck. The whites of the eyes are made from calcite and the pupils from obsidian. The claws are in silver, which was more valuable than gold in Ancient Egypt.
WHAT IS IT USED FOR?
The Anubis shrine was used in the funerary procession of the Pharaoh and finally placed in front of the Canopic chest in the Store Room. This and the orientation of the Anubis statue and shrine towards the west, the direction of the afterlife in Ancient Egyptian belief, indicating the role of the god Anubis as guardian of the Theban Necropolis.
WHAT DOES IT REPRESENT?
Anubis is the God of the dead. He was considered the inventor of embalming, the guardian of tombs, and a judge of the dead. The Egyptians believed that at the judgment he weighed the heart of the dead against the feather of truth. Anubis is represented as a jackal-headed male figure. The upper decoration shows the so-called Djed pillar, a symbol of endurance which is linked closely with the god Osiris and the Tyet, which can stand for life, like the ankh, and is a symbol of the goddess Isis. Inscriptions run horizontally along the upper edge and vertically along the sides on all faces of the shrine.