by Ancient Egyptian (Unknown), -600
The most famous statue of Anubis, the jackal-headed god of embalming, was found in Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. It shows a sleek black jackal crouching on a gilded shrine, ears pricked, alert and watchful. The figure is carved from wood, coated in black resin, with gold-leaf ears, eyebrows, and collar. It guarded the entrance to the treasury chamber, positioned to protect the pharaoh's canopic shrine.
Howard Carter found the statue wrapped in a linen shirt dated to the seventh year of Akhenaten's reign. The jackal form connects to real animal behavior: wild jackals and dogs scavenged near desert cemeteries, which the Egyptians interpreted as guardianship of the dead. Anubis played a central role in Egyptian funerary practice, overseeing mummification and guiding souls through the underworld. The statue is now displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Ancient Egyptian (Unknown), 401
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

Ancient Egyptian (Unknown), -1070
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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