Heliotrope gem: Anubis with Osiris mummy

PP-ID:

PP-1653

Classification:

gem, magical

Collection ID:

DE_Kassel-HKH_Ge 142

Collection:

Kassel, Antikensammlung, Hessen Kassel Heritage

Collection Inventory:

Ge 142

Reference Numbers:

Capello 1702, no. 103; AGD III, no. Kassel 142; Michel 2001, no. 4; Michel, DMG, no. 39.5.b_3

Former Collections:

Patin, Charles (Paris, 1633 – Padua, 1693); Capello, Antonio (Venice, 1652–1729); Karl, Landgraf von Hessen-Kassel (Kassel, 1654–1730)

Material:

jasper, green and red

Dimensions:

18.6 × 13.2 × 2.5 mm

Date:

2nd century AD (Michel)

Iconography:

Anubis; orant / greeting gesture; Osiris; mummy; mummy wrappings; solar disk; wig; lying posture; lion; Isis; Nephthys; name hieroglyph (Nephthys); name hieroglyph (Isis); unspecified long dress; protective gesture

Greenish brown jasper (heliotrope), transverse oval, both faces flat, trapezoid section. (Shape 8). Intact.

Side A: Lion striding to left, carrying the mummy of Osiris on its back. The mummy is wrapped in bandage, sports a wig and false beard and is crowned with the solar disk. Behind the group, the upper body of the jackal-headed Anubis is visible, stretching his raised arms over the mummy. To the left and right stand Isis and Nephthys in long garments, with winged arms and their name hieroglyphs (?) crowning their heads.
Side B: Undecorated.

Selected bibliography
• Capello 1702 >>, pl. 17, no. 103 (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Montfaucon 1719 >>, vol. 2,2, 378, pl. 176B (see Antiquitatum Thesaurus for details).
• Zazoff, AGD III >>, 231, no. 142.
• Michel 2001 >>, 22–23, no. 4; click here for the full-text excerpt.
• Michel, DMG >>, no. 39.5.b_3.