Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask
Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask
Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask
Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask
Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask
Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask
Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask
Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask

Roman Egyptian Painted Plaster Mummy Mask

17698

Regular price$2,800
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Egypt, Roman Period, ca. 1st–2nd Century AD.

A  painted plaster funerary mask from Roman Egypt, preserving the face and upper head of a youthful individual. Modeled and hand-finished in stucco with painted eyes, a straight nose, and traces of stippled Roman-style hair, the mask once lay over the wrapped head of the deceased as a portrait substitute. 

Condition: Weathered surface; edge losses, and surface encrustation; reverse hollowed as made.

Provenance: New York private collection; ex Doyle auctions, New York.

Roman-period plaster masks served as a substitute for the head of the deceased, elevating the individual's status and continuing pharaonic funerary traditions in a new Roman-influenced style. Such masks often extended to form part of the coffin lid, on which the deceased appeared to recline with the head slightly raised. The adoption of Roman facial features and hairstyles reflects the blending of Egyptian and Roman culture in Middle Egypt and the Faiyum during the first two centuries AD

Dimensions: 7½ in. (19 cm) high; 11½ in. (29 cm) on custom base

Cf. S. Walker & M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt, British Museum Press, nos. 132 & 134, for closely related plaster masks of young men with inlaid glass eyes and stippled Roman hair.  Cf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mummy Mask of a Woman, Roman Period, A.D. 60–70, acc. no. 19.2.6, for the molded-plaster mask tradition.  Cf. The British Museum, painted cartonnage and plaster Roman-period masks, ca. AD 100–120.

Every object is guaranteed authentic and as described, and has been legally acquired and imported in accordance with U.S. and applicable foreign regulations on the movement and sale of antiquities. A signed certificate of authenticity with a description and photograph accompanies this object. Any restoration is described on the invoice.

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Any object may be returned within 14 days of receipt for a refund or credit. Contact us first. See Buying from Us.

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