Partial Shu Amulet

Partial Shu Amulet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Depicted here is Shu, the god of the air, with his arms raised up in a right angle and palms facing the viewer. His beard is braided and he wears a long wig with a uraeus at his forehead. Preserved is only the top part of his body, but from similar pieces we know that he must have been kneeling. This position together with his raised arms show him as the carrier of the sky. During creation Shu separated the earth and sky by lifting up the latter. A sun disk is on his head, which alludes to the sky and the god’s role in the creation of the world. A small loop on the back of the head indicates that this figurine functioned as a pendant.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Partial Shu AmuletPartial Shu AmuletPartial Shu AmuletPartial Shu AmuletPartial Shu Amulet

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.