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Material : Cartonnage Gilded and Painted
Width : 26 Height : 42
Period : ROMAN PERIOD
This highly artistic funerary mask –made of gilded and painted cartonnage– dates back to the early Roman Period (1st century AD) . A great corpus of portraits painted on wood known as the "Fayum portraits" and plaster masks was made during the Roman imperial era . The Roman taste had a particular interest in making portraits that stand for iconographic realism . Such a tendency became the most successful expression of the reciprocal penetration of Egyptian and Roman cultures that were far more integrated in death than in life . While plaster masks were placed on the mummy over the area of the face , portraits were either placed among the bandages wrapping the deceased's mummy or on the linen shrouds .
Similar in style to the traditional Egyptian funerary masks , this example of funerary masks denotes a high taste of decoration and a skillfully-organized color arrangement . Decorating the mask are geometrical and botanical patterns with symmetrical highly artistic colors . The right hand of the mask's owner appears with the fist folded . Two paintings of Anubis , the god of mummification are portrayed on either side of the mask , near the neck holding lotus flowers . Downwards , there is a pair of copra frieze on the two sides , holding the solar disc . Realistically portrayed , the face is framed with a blue thick line crossed with stripes . Both the face and hand are painted gold with the ears sticking out . Worth noticing is the slight smile that lightens the mask's face . The beauty of the eyes is gracefully highlighted by eye black . Also highly admired is the winged solar disc flanked by two cobras in the center of the head .
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