{"id":65185,"date":"2019-05-20T01:47:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T01:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=65185"},"modified":"2019-05-20T01:49:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T01:49:30","slug":"the-magic-of-miniatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=65185","title":{"rendered":"The magic of miniatures"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ by Charles Cameron<\/strong> — I wasn’t intending this to be my next post in the commercials and magic<\/em> series, but here it is, with miniatures and matryoshkas all in a row — and Churchill! ]
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Who knows when it started — Egyptian shabtis <\/em><\/strong>were small figurines inscribed with the names of the deceased and buried with them, answering for them during judgment in the Hall of Truth where, for the best afterlife, one’s heart should weigh lighter than a feather on the scales — <\/p>\n

Myself, buried with my mini-me. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Especially if I am a pharaoh, or person of note<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(From left) Painted shabti of Ramesses IV. 20th Dynasty; decorated shabti of the Lady of the House, Sati – reportedly from Saqqara. 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III; and, a double shabti of Huy and Ipuy, a father and son pair. 18th Dynasty. Louvre Museum, Brooklyn Museum and Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy. (Photos: Heidi Kontkanen and Margaret Patterson)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

**<\/p>\n

A jar fit for a giant to drink from, one of thousands in the Laotian Plain of Jars:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was reminded of Egyptian shabtis <\/em><\/strong>by an article I saw today<\/a> about thousand-year-old burial practices in Laos, where the vast Plain of Jars is dotted with thousands of large “jars” so called — some have thought of them as chalices from which giants would drink — used in funerary rites, and the article contained this para:<\/p>\n

We’d love to know why these people represented the same jars in which they placed their dead, in miniature to be buried with their dead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miniatures!<\/p>\n

I suppose we all play with miniatures as children — toy guns, toy sheriff’s badges, dolls and dolls houses — all parents need to ensure their children grow up prepared for adult life! — but after-life may have come first where miniatures are concerned.<\/p>\n

In any case, there’s an enormous, likely archetypal pull associated with the large and its small analogs.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

Look at this Myself and Mini-me commercial from National:<\/p>\n