Funerary mask

Funerary mask

The funerary mask covered the face of a female mummy. The deceased is portrayed with a tripartite wig with frontal curls made by blue squares alternating with gold squares; each frontal band ends with a golden frame on which is depicted in relief a goddess kneeling in adoration: in the right panel is the goddess Isis and in the left panel the goddess Nephthys. On the underside there are two scenes each made up of four seated gods. The face whose forehead is decorated with a series of raised curls is characterized by large rimmed black eyes with big black irises that stand out from the white of the cornea. The deceased is wearing a broad usekh – collar with more alternating threads; the shoulders have polychrome decorations, under which there are rosettes and the representation of Anubis crouched on a naos.

The back of the mask is completely gilded and has the representation of a knotted ribbon, whose folds fall behind to the shoulder dividing the surface into different spaces. In the spaces thus obtained are the depictions of a jackal headed genius followed by an uraeus with a red crown and of a falcon headed genius followed by an uraeus with  a white crown. The decoration of the back ends with the image of the goddess Maat kneeling with winged arms.

 

Further information
Identificazione (Label is not translated)
	Inventory number:	inv. 22
Precedenti_localizzazioni (Label is not translated)
	Provenance:	Unknown
Object
	Class and ware:	Funerary furnishings
	Title or subject:	Funerary mask
Cronologia (Label is not translated)
	Period:	Ptolemaic period
Dati_tecnici (Label is not translated)
	Material:	cartonnage
	Height:	48
	Varie:	Conservation status: good. It is cracked in the right front corner and there are restorations of colour on the back.
Bibliography
	Bibliography:	1996, Sist L.,  “Museo Barracco. Arte Egizia” Quaderno - 3, Roma, pp. 100-101