Man figure, kneeling, holding up hands, with sun disk in between.

Size: 4,5 cm

Period: Late Period, c. 664 – 332 B.C.

Material: Faience

Provenance: Collection Dos and Bertie Winkel

Price: € 2000,—

Shu was the god of light and air and as such personified the wind and the earth’s atmosphere.
As the god of light he represented the illumination of the primordial darkness, and marked the separation between day and night and between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
As the god of air, Shu represented the space between the earth and the heavens, and gave the breath of life to all living creatures.
As a god of the wind, sailors invoked him to provide good winds to propel their boats.
The clouds were considered to be his bones, and he supported the ladder by which the deceased souls could reach the heavens.
Shu was one of the Ennead of Heliopolis, and the first to be created by the self-created god, Atum, who conjured Shu from his own spittle.
He was the husband and brother of Tefnut (moisture), and father of the Nut (sky) and Geb (earth).