By the time the work is finished, thousands of feet of perfumed linen will have been used. The fabric will gently come to rest on delicately shut eyelids. It will delicately hug the gentle curves of hips and shoulders, and will tenderly encircle the length of each finger. The goal, of course, is a tribute to the human body: to bring these forms into the afterlife as they lay before the devoted, still beautiful and perfect. Then, as now, few expenses are spared for those we adore.
