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Mummy mask

7122a.jpg
7122b.jpg 7122c.jpg
7122d.jpg

The mask was intended to cover the mummy until just under the chest. It wears a long wig; the face is gilded, and the eyes are inlaid with stone and glass. A kind of stylized beard is indicated under the chin, the plaited straps are painted onto the jaws. On top of the wig, a winged scarab is painted. A fillet is tied around the wig, with a gilded sun disk on the forehead, from which golden lotus flower pendants hang down. The shoulder parts are decorated in symmetry: in the upper register, a falcon crowned with a sun disk and holding a feather, protecting between its wings an upright mummy; in the lower register, three uraei crowned with sun disks. The registers are separated by decorated bands. At the bottom of the chest piece runs a broad band with rosettes.
The lappets of the wig are also decorated, each in two registers. Left lappet, upper register: Anubis in a long kilt stands with outstretched arms beside an empty bier in the shape of a falcon-headed lion wearing the white crown, the scene is flanked by two facing mummiform figures; lower register: three mummiform figures, one with a human head, one with a falcon's head and one with a feather as a head. Right lappet, upper register: same scene as upper left, but with only one mummiform figure on the right and a lion's head on the bier; lower register: mirror image of the lower left.
The space on the chest between the lappets is occupied by rosettes and other decorative elements.
On the left side of the wig, a falcon-headed mummiform figure holding a feather is seated; on the right side, the figure has a human head. On the back of the wig, fragments of three standing mummiform figures are visible: two with human heads and the middle one with a falcon head.
All mummiform figures wear broad collars, some wear gowns with bead nets. The strands of hair on top of the wig are represented stylized as a bead net.
The execution gives the impression of negligence in some aspects.

Present location

ALLARD PIERSON MUSEUM [06/002] AMSTERDAM

Inventory number

APM 7122

Dating

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD

Archaeological Site

UNKNOWN

Category

MASK

Material

PLASTER; STRAW; LINEN; GOLD

Technique

PAINTED ON STUCCO; GILDED; STUCCO

Height

48 cm

Width

36.4 cm

Depth

25.1 cm

Bibliography