often recognized as the Egyptian cross, in ancient Egypt it was a sysmbol of eternal life and represented the word “life” in the hieroglyphs
the shape represents the union of Isis and Osiris, bringing together male and female, sky and earth, the basis of all life.
other names it is known by: the Knot of Isis for its power to unite and bind the way Isis gathered Osiris’s scattered remains to resurrect him; its significance to symbolizing eternal life also gives it the name the Key of Life; and it is also known as the Key of Nile since the annual flood in the Nile brings much fertility and life to Egypt
A winged hourglass is seen above the soul effigy on this 18th century grave. A skull and crossbones is also seen on each side of the grave.
Old Hill Burying Ground
Concord MA 7 23 18
This stele depicts the Buddha at centre holding one hand in abhaya mudra and the other gripping the corner of his robe. He is flanked by Avalokiteshvara who holds a blossoming lotus over his shoulder and Maitreya who carries an ewer in his lowered hand. The triad bears several hallmarks of the influential idioms of Gupta and post-Gupta art of the Sarnath style adopted into Kashmir from the 4th-7th centuries, though predominantly reflects a matured Classical style of the Utapala Dynasty (855-939). Here, figures are fuller in form with shortened proportions, having retracted from the softer contours of these inherited Indian styles. Male figures, in particular, display broad flattened torsos and a modelled musculature of the body as illustrated here.
