Ancient Egyptian (Green) Jasper Naturalistic Heart Scarab - 2.1 cm - The heart scarab was mostly used as a grave good but also worn as an amulet. The heart scarab was used by referring to Chapter 30 from the Book of the Dead and the weighing of the heart, being balanced by Maat, goddess of truth, justice, order, wisdom, and cosmic balance. The function of the heart scarab was to bind the heart to silence while it was being weighed in the underworld to ensure that the heart did not bear false witness against the deceased. As in many current religions, the individual had to show 'worthiness' to achieve the afterlife. The heart was extremely important to ancient Egyptians as the seat of intelligence and the storehouse of memory. It was the only organ left in place during mummification. Heart scarab amulets were meant as substitutes for the heart should the deceased be deprived of the organ in the afterlife. For example, when a person died, a heart scarab was often placed on their heart and bound underneath the bandages of the mummy. This was to ensure that it could not be physically removed from their person. - See last picture as a parallel: https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/scarab-12 Registered shipping. Provenance/Known History: Ex. Private UK collection. Collected before 1970. After that A.A. Gallery, UK. Important information: - Due to new custom regulations we can no longer ship outside the E.U. Please make sure you have an EU shipping address before bidding. - A declaration of authenticity by my shop is provided with this lot. - Please do not pay for a won item before you are finished bidding in the auction. The system will not be able to combine your orders into one shipping if all items aren't paid at once.