Beautiful little Bronze figurine of the Egyptian Jackel God Anubis in an unusual kneeling position. 110mm x 110mm.
Has plenty of age but whether it's late 19th or early 20th century, or a couple of thousand years old, only an expert egyptologist could tell. No provenance unfortunately.
There are no signs of mechanical finishing and it has been cast in one piece so it's clearly not a modern copy. The bronze has an underlying reddidh colour which I'm told can be due to the ancient composition of egyptian bronze containing cuprite.
The best Egyptian bronzes were produced between the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Period — around the 7th century B.C. — while later dynasties through to the Ptolemaic Period (when the Greeks ruled over Egypt) show a rise in mass production and a drop in craftsmanship.
Anubis was the Egyptian deity of cemeteries and embalming as well as the protector of graves. Depicted with the black head of a jackal, Anubis helped mummify Egyptians when they died. Black represented the fertile soil of the Nile that was needed to grow yearly crops, so the Egyptians believed that the color black symbolized good fortune and rebirth. Jackals were associated with death, because they lurked around cemeteries and would eat decomposing flesh. Therefore, by making Anubis the patron deity of jackals, the Egyptians hoped to protect the bodies from being devoured. In addition, as recorded in the Book of the Dead (better known as “The Book of Going Forth by Day”) Anubis’s other job was to stand in the Hall of the Two Truths and weigh the hearts of people seeking judgment.