Gilded Mummy Mask

Gilded Mummy Mask

Ptolemaic Period, 3rd Century BC

Egypt

Linen, gesso, pigment, gold
45.5 cm High x 30.2 cm x 23.3 cm

2018.010.127

Masks protected the mummified head and presented the transfigured state of the deceased. If the mummified head was lost or damaged, masks ensured the deceased could be whole.

This cartonnage head has a gilded face, and a polychrome wig, bust and details. The tripartite wig is divided into three registers on either side. At the top are confronting falcons, the middle has representations of the mummy before the seated Osiris, and at the bottom, two sets of the Four Sons of Horus face each other on either side. The top of the wig is crowned with a winged scarab and vulture goddess Nekhbet, both with wings outstretched. Nekhbet wears the atef-crown. To either side of the wig are registers with rosettes, udjat eyes, and various geometric motifs. On the back of the case are the figures of Isis and Nephthys protecting the mummy.

The mask was purchased by Georges Ricard for the Senusret Collection on 29 May 1972 in Lille, France at the Exceptionnelle vente aux enchères publiques, lot number 9.

[See additional images below]

Gift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Parallels and References:
London, Petrie Museum of Archaeology,from Hawara, Egypt, Ptolemaic, 332-330 BC.

Stadler, Martin Andreas 2004. Ägyptische Mumienmasken in Würzburg (Schenkung Gütte). Wiesbaden: Reichert.