ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art
Mummy Mask
Place FoundThebes, Egypt, Africa
CultureEgyptian
PeriodRoman Period
Dateca. 200-250 CE
MediumLinen, plaster, pigment
Credit LineCharlotte Lichirie Collection of Egyptian Art
Dimensions7 1/16 x 6 5/16 x 2 3/8 in. (17.9 x 16 x 6 cm)
Object number1999.001.143
Label TextDuring the Roman period, mummy masks often mixed traditional Egyptian styles with elements of Roman art. Masks similar to this one have been found at Deir el‑Bahari, a site near Thebes with important temples and tombs from earlier periods in Egyptian history. This mask shows a woman with stylish makeup, gold jewelry, and a wavy hairstyle that was popular among wealthy Roman women in the first half of the third century CE. Although made of plaster, the earrings and crown are painted to resemble gold, pearls, and precious gems. The woman may not have owned such items in life, but artists used the imagery to give her high status in death.
The plaster face was once attached to a painted fabric shroud, only traces of which remain. These shrouds usually showed the person’s upper body dressed in fine clothing and wearing jewelry. At the bottom, it likely showed Anubis, the god of mummification, together with symbols of fertility and renewed life.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, October 6, 2001 - June 1, 2013
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, June 26, 2013 - Present
Published ReferencesPeter Lacovara, "The New Galleries of Egyptian and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum," Minerva 12 (2001): 9-16.
Peter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2001), 57.
Christina Riggs, The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, Identity, and Funerary Religion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 232, 295, number 122.
Sophie Griselle, "Deux Masques Funéraires d’Époque Romaine au Musée Dobrée de Nantes," Revue D’Ègyptologie 70 (2020): 4, plate II.
Asja Müller, Ägyptens schöne Gesichter : die Mumienmasken der römischen Kaiserzeit und ihre Funktion im Totenritual (Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2021), 334.
ProvenanceEx coll. Niagara Falls Museum, Niagara Falls, Canada. Purchased by MCCM from William Jamieson (1954-2011) [Golden Chariot Productions], Toronto, Canada.
Status
On viewCollections
- Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art
1st - 2nd century CE
ca. 98 - 120 CE
167-30 BCE
1st Century BCE-1st Century CE
305-30 BCE
305-30 BCE
ca. 2nd Century CE
722-30 BCE
305-30 BCE
1st Century BCE-1st Century CE
after 722 BCE
