Mummy Mask

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

Periodlate Ptolemaic Period

Date200-30 BCE

MediumCartonnage, paint

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions13 3/8 x 7 7/8 x 2 3/8 in., 190 g (34 x 20 x 6 cm, 6 11/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.673

Label TextA cartonnage mask protected the head of the mummified body. If the head was lost or damaged, the masks ensured the deceased could be whole. Cartonnage masks were composed of layers of linen or papyrus, plaster, and glue that were molded, brightly painted, and often gilded. The basic mask components could vary based on shape, size, time, and place. Gilded cartonnage masks are not portraits but display the owner as a divine being with golden skin.

The mask depicts the deceased wearing a tripartite blue wig and a broad collar with eight rows of floral and foliate beads. The eyes, eyebrows, and pupils are painted black. The gilded face symbolizes the owner’s transformed state in the afterlife. Similar masks come from the sites of Abusir el-Meleq and Atfih near the Faiyum and reflect the Herakleopolitan style of the period.
Exhibition HistoryMichael C. Carlos Museum, Veneralia 2019 Senuseret Collection Preview, May 18, 2019
Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, February 18, 2024 - Present
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed., Life and The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 73.

ProvenanceSaid to be ex coll. Princess Maddevi Yukanthor-Norodom. Purchased by Georges Ricard (1921-2012) from Roger Fernand Galliano, Paris, France, April 5, 1974. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

Status

On view

Collections