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Shroud or funerary hanging, 2nd
century AD. Tempera on linen.
click
here for a detail about the blueish-grey colours.
These awesome composition centred on almost life-size figures on the
deceased, found only at Saqqara, vividly illustrate the meeting of the
Greek and the Egyptian worlds: the mortal, dressed in white tunic and
mantle, is taken under the protection of the benevolent black
jackal-headed god Anubis. To the left is Osiris, in mummy form. Anubis's
profile pose is strictly Egyptian; Osiris is in a pose of Eastern
inspiration; while the man stands in a pose invented by the Greeks, with
the weight on one leg, which here evokes movement from life to death.
Behind the head of the man seen opposite, the entrance to an Egyptian
temple forms a sort of square halo, framed by a hieroglyphic
inscription about the afterlife. The composition include horizontal
bands containing mummified divinities, and is alive with mysterious
insect-like stick-people, who may represent the damned.
It is likely that these enormous paintings were made to be seen spread
out, at funeral feasts or in visitable chambers. In the image, the head
is painted seperately - not, it has been suggested, just to
'personalize' a mass-produced design, but transferred from an old, worn
shroud to a new one.
[picture no.14 from the book]
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