An Egyptian Red Jasper Trussed Ox Amulet, New Kingdom, ca. 1550 - 1069 BCE Sculpture - Stone just as the sun god

just as the sun god was raised above the eastern horizon each morning

An almost geometric simplicity differentiates the sculpture from its Indian and Central Asian sources

the umbo (the protrusion at the top of the shell) is simply but powerfully carved in the form of a bird's head

The Jukurrpa story tells of the journey of a group of women of all ages who traveled to the east gathering food

they were hand-worked probably by bead makers

An Egyptian Red Jasper Trussed Ox Amulet, New Kingdom, ca. 1550 - 1069 BCE Sculpture - Stone just as the sun godCarved in the round, a fat trussed ox with its legs tightly bound beneath its body. Amulets of trussed oxen are part of a category of Egyptian amulets in the form of earthly possessions, many of which depict funerary offerings, "intended to keep the various spirit forms which survived death eternally supplied with essential food and drink even if actual supplies had ceased to be presented at the burial place" (Andrews, Carol, 1994. Amulets of Ancient