A beautiful and extraordinarily rare example of New Kingdom wodden sculpture, representing Anubis standing with the left leg advanced in stride, his arms held to his sides, his hands clenched. The god has powerful legs and broad shoulders, and is wearing a short wrap-around kilt and a bag wig.

Anubis is the Greek name of a god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Originally, archeologists believed the sacred animal of Anubis was a golden jackal. However, recent molecular work done by biologists has shown that the wild dog-like animals of the Egyptian desert are not jackals but African wolves. Golden jackals are only found in Asia and Europe, not in Egypt.

In early Egyptian religion, Anubis was the God of the Dead. However, by the beginning of the Old Kingdom, he was superseded by Osiris. Anubis then became one of the gods of the funerary cult, specifically embalming, and the God of Cemeteries. He helped protect the dead and lead them into the underworld. The Ancient Egyptians believed that when after death, one traveled to the interim realm of the Hall of the Dead. There, Anubis weighed your heart against the feather of Ma'at, the Goddess of Justice. First, he steadied the scales to make the balance was fair. If your heart was heavier than the feather, an ostrich plume, then it was eaten by a demon. If the deceased’s heart was lighter than the feather, Anubis guided them towards Osiris to begin their journey through the underworld. In fact, we continue to speak of "a heart as light as a feather" or "heavy-hearted” even today.