Anubis

Anubis, 664-30 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 26 x 20 x 3 1/2 in. (66 x 50.8 x 8.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1478Ea-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 37.1478E_edited_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

This sleek wooden statue of the jackal god Anubis wearing a red ribbon around his neck depicts him guarding the necropolis, one of his commonest roles. The Egyptians knew that jackals inhabited the desert edge, where cemeteries were located.

The pose Anubis takes here represents the god perched on his sacred mountain above the necropolis, with his tail drooping downward. This is the same form of Anubis addressed in the standard funerary prayer that Egyptian priests recited for the deceased.

MEDIUM Wood, pigment

Reportedly From: Saqqara, Egypt

DATES 664-30 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 26, or later

PERIOD Late Period to Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS 26 x 20 x 3 1/2 in. (66 x 50.8 x 8.9 cm)

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4155