This is the image that inspired me:

Ma'at in Nefertari's tomb, from _The Royal Tombs of Egypt: The Art of Thebes Revealed_, photos by Sandro Vannini, page 85

But I wanted to make my version more personal. I remembered with amusement Courbet's words on copying 'the past' directly, so I did not duplicate the hands as they are in the original. Perhaps there is some additional significance to the unrealistic hand positions, I should study the symbology books more. But I didn't want her hands like that. Also, I gave her a smile, and put my own name, along with 'Beloved of Set' in the cartouche: I wanted some writing in the background as the original has, so I found some phrases: "He shall come forth by day", from Budge's _The Egyptian Book of the Dead_ Hieroglyph for "night", _Gereh_ I'd got the picture all drawn. I invited Julia to have a look. She exclaimed, "Oh, I wish you had called me over before you inked it in. The gender is all wrong! You should use the feminine!" So we found in another Budge book the gender determinatives: The 'viper' is masculine determinative, the 'bolt' is feminine determinative... I joked a bit, but then thought, well, I should have it right. But, oh, to redraw it! But I found a solution. Laura had bought a glass table for doing her cartoons. The light she used to aid tracing was still there, and still plugged in. That light illuminates so well, I can trace on thick bristol board from a sheet of thick bristol board underneath. I took advantage to make better placement of the figures overall, give Ma'at a nicer face, and elongate her too short waist:

Ma'at herself is making a hieroglyph for 'love' with her arm positions and the enclosure of the cartouche!

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