Papyrus Bookmark - Osiris painted
painted bookmark 5 cm x 19 cm in protective cover and decorative ribbon
PGI bookmark
made of hand laid papyrus, manufactured in Egypt
silkscreen motif, cut edge
Osiris motif
Osiris, eldest son of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. His sister and consort was Isis, the other sister Nephthys as well as his envious brother Seth.
No sooner had Osiris ascended to the earthly throne of Upper and Lower Egypt than he immediately freed the people of Egypt from their life of privation and from the wild animals. He showed them the fruits of the earth, gave them laws and taught them to respect the gods. Later, he went through the whole world to give them his arts. Truly great were the deeds of Osiris and truly great also the love shown to him by the people of Egypt.
His brother Seth was given dominion over the desert land and was very unhappy with it. He envied Osiris so much that he killed him, dismembered him and scattered him all over Egypt. Isis was desperate and went in search of the body parts, which she finally found and reassembled after long wanderings and adventures.
The deceased had to appear before Osiris in the courtroom and all 42 goddesses and gods asked a question, which the dead had to answer truthfully with "no". Only then could they hope for a life in the afterworld. However, in order to enter the afterworld completely, their bodies had to be mummified beforehand. This afterlife of the Egyptians lay far to the west - where the sun sets. That is why Osiris also bore the epithet "Lord of the West".
Our papyrus offer
We offer bright, hand laid natural papyrus from Egypt. From the size of a bookmark, over A4 and A3 up to oversizes of 92 x 192 cm, as well as various papyrus rolls, you are sure to find the right papyrus sheet. The design possibilities with papyrus are manifold. It can be inscribed with hieroglyphics or painted with various motifs. Tempera or watercolours, ink or felt-tip pens are suitable; it can even be printed with an inkjet printer.
Papyrus is a natural product
In the Nile Delta, papyrus leaves are still produced in the traditional way. Families in the countryside harvest the papyrus stems, which can grow up to 6 metres high, and process the raw material into papyrus leaves with great skill. Carefully crafted papyri are produced in several steps, which always have an individual, handcrafted character.
The history
Papyrus has been produced and used as a writing material in Ancient Egypt since the 3rd millennium BC. It was always a highly valued product whose sole marketing rights lay with the Pharaoh. The German word "Papier" goes back to the Greek word "pápyros", which in turn is based on the ancient Egyptian word "pa-en-per-aa", which roughly means "the pharaoh's".
If papyrus is stored in a dry place, it has a very long life. Thus, papyrus scrolls or fragments that provided information about life in Ancient Egypt were and are still being found. The most famous papyrus scrolls are probably the Herculaneum Papyri, which were buried and preserved by the massive eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Another 400,000 papyri from the ancient Egyptian Oxyrhynchus are still waiting to be deciphered and will once again bring much of interest to light. Julius Caesar is probably responsible for the greatest loss of knowledge in history. His soldiers set fire to the library of Alexandria, destroying thousands of important papyrus manuscripts.
Fair trade with Egypt
PGI buys Egyptian products directly from the producer. This allows us to bypass traders' stations and offer our customers favourable prices. But the Egyptian producers also benefit from this direct marketing, they achieve much higher prices for their products. We regularly visit our partners in Egypt and discuss the upcoming needs on site.
Instructions for painting papyrus