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Material : Plaster
Width : 18 Height : 29 . 5
Found in : Tuna El-gabal (1895)
Period : Roman Period
Found in Tuna El-Gabal (Jabal) , this funerary mask of a woman dates back to the Roman Period (30 BC-313 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 .
Discovered in 1895 , this plaster mask depicts a young aristocratic fair lady with a face full of impressive expressions . She has a long nose , fleshy round face , thin eyebrows and slightly long sticking out ears . The locks of her short , black , curly hair gracefully fall down on her shoulders . Crowning her head is a fine laurel wreath which adds to her excessive charm .
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