Anubis Fetish (Imiut)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two male figures, shrine, and fetishlike object were discovered by Metropolitan Museum excavators in a chamber in the enclosure wall of an elite tomb at Lisht South. The object of veneration found inside the shrine was called an imiut, "the one in the wrappings." It consists of a dummy animal (a linen form inside an animal skin), without head or hind legs, fastened by linen strips to a staff whose end rests in a jar containing now-decayed ointment. Early in Egyptian history, imiut fetishes were placed protectively around sacred spaces; later, the imiut was often depicted in relation to funerary gods, especially Osiris. Both the guardians and the imiut played an important role during rites performed over the mummy the night before the funeral.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art