Breath of Life

Breath of Life

A fan carried by a servant in Ancient Egypt represented a symbolic message, and was used for various purposes. Ancient Egyptian fans and sunshades often differed only in size. Large sunshades were used to protect one’s eyes from solar glare, or perhaps even symbolically to protect onlookers from the brilliance of the Pharaoh or another high officials. There were numerous uses for fans, and the hieroglyphic sign acted as a generic determinative used for words representing both objects. In all periods, the most common types of fan were lotiform and palmiform, imitating the leaf of the blue lotus or the frond of the date palm. Other, less frequently found types were patterned after the leaves of other plants, bird wings and such objects. From a piece of jewellery belonging to Amenemhet III, a personified Ankh holds a fan behind the Pharaoh. A actual example of this type of fan is represented by the hieroglyph which was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.
It is believed that a fan can represent the “breath of life” when held by Isis, Nephthys or Horus, who waved it over the corpse of Osiris in order to revive him.

Music – Khaled Hammad

Painting using acrylics, pigment and gold foil

13th February 2009

Breath of Life belongs to the following groups:

All things Egyptian, Art Inspired by Dreams, Music Inspired Art (M.I.A) music links/lyrics required, Spiritual Art and The Healing Journey Available for sale as

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