Egyptian Funerary Mask in the University of Pennsylvania Museum, November 2009

Funerary Mask
Provenance Unknown
Ptolemaic or Roman Period
Gilded Cartonnage

#53-1201a

Funerary masks served to protect the head and face of the deceased. Not really portraits of an individual, these masks presented the deceased in an idealized manner. Here the deceased wears a wig shown in alternating stripes of blue, red, and gold. Between the two lappets of the wig is a gilt collar with raised decorations. The sides and bottom of the mask are painted to represent beadwork. The face of the deceased is gilded perhaps reflecting a belief that the flesh of the immortal gods was made of gold.

Text from the U. Penn. Museum label.