Papyrus width: 13" Papyrus height: 16", Papyrus Art width: 10" height: 14 1/2" Hand painted and signed on true, aged papyrus. This is a farily typical depiction of what may be a copy of a modern Egyptian Icon. It represents Mary and the baby Jesus in a style that was fairly common to the ancient Coptic Christians, with Jesus' hand spread providing a blessing to the onlooker. Ancient Egyptian, as well as other Christian icons are characterized by: * Large and wide eyes symbolize the spiritual eye that look beyond the material world. The Bible says "the light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be simple, thy whole body shall be full of light" [Matthew 6:22]. * Large ears listen to the word of God. The Bible says "if any man have ears to hear, let them hear" [Mark 4:23]. * Gentle lips to glorify and praise the Lord, for the Bible says "My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips" [Psalm 63:5]. * Small mouths, so that they cannot be the source of empty or harmful words. * Small noses, because the nose is sometimes seen as sensual. * Large heads, which imply that the figure is devoted to contemplation and prayer. This representation lacks the larger ears found on many ancient icons.