Egyptian
An Egyptian wood mummy mask, Late New Kingdom, 19th - 20th Dynasty, circa 1295 - 1070 BC
Wood
Height: 17.5 cm
From the lid of an anthropoid coffin, the mask is carved with naturalistic facial features. There are traces of blue paint remaining on the eyes, with a hole under the...
From the lid of an anthropoid coffin, the mask is carved with naturalistic facial features. There are traces of blue paint remaining on the eyes, with a hole under the chin for insertion of the beard.
Provenance
Dr. Bruce L. Ralston (1925 - 1998) Collection, Tuxedo Park, New York, acquired before 1979. Dr. Ralston, a neurologist, assembled a large collection during the 1960s - 1970s
Literature
Such masks were separately made to be inserted into to the head of the coffin. The mask is notable for its more naturalistic and individualistic facial features. Anthropoid coffins from the New Kingdom demonstrate an increased interest in the lifelike representation of the deceased. For other masks with more ‘individual’ features see the Musée du Louvre acc. no. E11647 and British Museum, acc. no. 1843,0507.69.For further discussion see P. Lacovara, B. Teasley Trope (eds.), The Realm of Osiris: Mummies, Coffins, and Ancient Egyptian Funerary Art in the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta, 2001, p. 52.