Ankh (Key of Life) papyrus painting

The Ankh (Key of Life) papyrus painting is a very fine detailed piece full of colors and full of life.This is a wonderfully detailed symbol of life, or ankh as the Ancient Egyptians would have called it. The top is a circle that represents life that is continuous into the afterlife. There are two cartouches within the detail of the symbol, both stand for Tutankhamun. The king would officially have five names. The cartouche with the scarab symbol inside is his prenomen-NebKheprure which means ‘The Lordly scarab manifestation of Re’.

The other cartouche is his nomen-Heqa-Iunu-shema, which means ‘Living image of Amun, ruler of Upper Egyptian Heliopolis’. Amun was the creator god and Heliopolis was the capital that was associated with the sun. In side the circle itself, if you look closely you can see the elements of the cartouche that contains the scarab. This was another more fun and creative way to write the name. Surrounding the name there is also the protective cobra and beneath is the lotus flower that symbolized rebirth and resurrection. One must remember every picture in Ancient Egypt has a meaning and it’s just a matter of solving the puzzle in order to understand the whole picture. The size of this papyrus painting is approximately 14″ by 17 1/2″.

Papyrus was a weed that grew wildly along the banks of the Nile River. It grew about 10 feet high. It was used to make everything. The ancient Egyptians used papyrus to make paper, baskets, sandals, mats, rope, blankets, tables, chairs, mattresses, medicine, perfume, food, and clothes. Truly, papyrus was an important “gift of the Nile”.

They even tried to make boats out of papyrus, but that did not work very well since Papyrus absorbs water. Using papyrus to make boats might not have worked, but making paper out of papyrus worked  really very well. The ancient Egyptians soaked papyrus to soften it, and then mashed it. They pushed the mashed papyrus together into sheets, and let the sheets dry. Hence they cut the dried papyrus sheets into strips. Then they piled several strips on top of each other to make a thick paper. They beat the stack with a hammer to mash the strips together. Then, they placed a weight on top of each stack. That made the paper thin and sturdy. The final step was to dry to stack.

The ancient Egyptians also used papyrus to make books. But they were not books like ours.  Ancient Egyptian books were made from long strips of papyrus paper. The end of a strip was pasted to another strip, to form a long and thin continuous writing surface. Either one end, or both ends were fastened to a stick of wood, or if you were very rich, a thin stick of ivory. Most papyrus books were only a few feet long. But some were very long, over 150 feet long!

To make sure what they wrote down was protected, the ancient Egyptians only wrote on one side of a sheet (thin strip) of paper. When the paper was full of writing, they rolled the paper into a cylinder with the writing inside, and left a hole down the middle. That way, if the paper picked up any moisture, it could dry more easily.

Like all our other exquisite pieces, this papayrus is handcrafted, and highly detailed by our talented craftsmen. It is also top quality and can last for a lifetime.

Additional info:

• Shipment of The Ankh (Key of Life) papyrus painting takes from 4-6 business days

• Shipping takes place from Egypt