Anubis

Anubis was the Ancient Egyptian god of embalming. He appears in Book of the Dead papyri undertaking the mummification of the deceased. In legend it was Anubis who took care of the body of Osiris after he had been murdered by his evil brother Seth. In the Valley of the Kings tombs were sealed with images of Anubis to protect the dead against evil. Anubis' animal representative was a dog or jackal. It has never been clear exactly which as the features are pointed and jackal-like, but he is always shown as being black in colour. This could just symbolise his association with death, but black was also the colour which represented regrowth and rebirth into the afterlife. This replica was moulded from an original bronze now in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities.