CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK - AWATING NEW HIGHER RESOLUTION PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE OF THE FRONT SIDE - EXPECTED DATE OF AVAILABILTY WINTER SOLSTICE 12/21/2024

The Stele of Ankh-af-na-Khonsu is an ancient Egyptian wooden funerary offering tablet dated to circa 680–670 BCE, the period of the late 25th Dynasty/early 26th Dynasty. It was discovered in 1858 by a member of French archaeologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette’s work crew in a tomb excavation at the mortuary temple of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh/Queen Hatshepsut, located at Deir Al Bahari, near the West Bank of Luxor.

Also known as the "Stele of Revealing", it’s a central element of the religious/spiritual philosophy called Thelema, founded by Aleister Crowley sometime after 1904, when he and his wife Rose first encountered the ancient artifact in the then new Egyptian Museum around the spring equinox of that year.

Now located in Cairo under the care of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, the stele is reportedly in storage at the new Grand Egyptian Museum after the break-in at the Egyptian Museum during the Revolution of 2011.

The Stele of Ankh-af-na-Khonsu is (or was) perhaps one of the largest and one of the most colorful of ancient Egyptian painted funerary steles discovered by archaeologists, and must now be presumed missing until it resurfaces. Until such time that it does, and it can actually be archivally photographed, our accurate replica and image files may be the closest color and clarity images currently available. Although lacking somewhat in definition when viewed close-up in its full-size due to the limitations of the pixelated original source image resolution, our replica presents a striking and convincing visual impact from just a step away.

Our Wandering Stars “Stele of Revealing” replica is 51.5 centimeters (20 ¼”) high by 31 centimeters (12 3/16”) wide, and 2 centimeters (¾”) thick, the same as the stele itself. It’s printed on an ultra-thin vinyl adhesive sheet, and applied to ¾” MDO gesso primer coated wood laminate board - laser cut in accordance with the original shape and imperfections as much as possible. The edges are then lightly sanded and coated with gesso primer as with the original. After drying, the stele front is then hand textured with clear UVLS gel acrylic topcoat, with varying amounts of true gamboge pigment in accordance with the method of the original stele artist for the utmost authenticity. Each hand-finished stele replica is numbered in the production series.

Our photographs attempt to show the stele in different natural daylight angles.

Each stele is put together and painted at the time it is ordered, so please allow a week before shipping.