Face of a Mummy Mask
Summary
All that remains of this mummy mask is the face, while the crown of the head, the neck, the chest and the back of the head are lost.
Description of object
The mummy mask shows a man or a woman who was wearing an item of headgear, of which only the edge along the forehead can still be seen. The mask is modelled in plaster, which has been gilded. The inlaid eyes have been executed in copper (eyelashes), limestone and glass (eyes). The chubby face with the smiling mouth is a stylistic trait from the Ptolemaic era, but the work is probably a product of the early Roman period.
Choice of methods
Technical imaging
- UV
- IR
Sampling
- Cross section
- Proteomics
- SEM/EDX
- FT-IR
Bibliography
Jørgensen, M. Egypt III : Coffins, Mummy Adornments and Mummies from the Third Intermediate, Late, Ptolemaic and the Roman Periods (1080 BC – AD 400): Catalogue: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek; 2001.
Bagh T. Finds from W.M.F. Petrie’s excavations in Egypt in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. (1. ed.). Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek; 2011.
- ÆIN 1387
- Portrait
- First half of the 1st century CE
- Egypt: Late Period
- Plaster, linen, gold, copper, stone and glass
- Acquired in 1911 from the excavations of W.M.F. Petrie, probably at Hawara, where Petrie was working from 1910 to 1911, and where masks with similar faces have been found.
- H: 15 cm
