Lot Essay
For two virtually identical masks see nos. 202-203, p. 306-307 in Parlasca and Seeman, Mumienporträts und Ägyptische Grabkunst aus Römische Zeit.
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ROMAN PERIOD, CIRCA EARLY 1ST CENTURY A.D.
Details
A CARTONNAGE MUMMY MASK
roman period, circa early 1st century a.d.
Molded with the lips pursed into a slight smile, the face painted bright yellow, the eyes white with brown-rimmed black irises, with red in their corners, the eyes rimmed in blue, the brows in blue with black cross-hatching, depicted wearing a striped nemes-headcloth with a banded border, a winged sun-disk with flanking uraei above the forehead, a band above with six cobras on either side of an ankh-sign, the back in two registers, the upper with a winged sun-disk with pendant cobras each supporting a large feather, symbols of Maat, all above the mummy, the lower with a human-headed Ba-bird with outstretched wings, the hair tied in a fillet, surmounted by a sun-disk, clutching feathers in its talons and holding feathers in the hands, with four columns of hieroglyphic text above containing variations of the "spells of Osiris" indicating his various epithets written in "cryptographic" hieroglyphs, and a single column of hieroglyphic text reading "Spell by Osiris, Foremost of the Westerners," the left side with two of the sons of Horus, baboon-headed Hapy and human-headed Imsety, together with Nephthys, standing before a falcon-headed deity, the right side with two of the Sons, jackal-headed Duamutef and falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, together with Nephthys, standing before Osiris, the left side with two columns of hieroglyphic text, "Spell by Osiris, Living Eternally"
16½ in. (41.9 cm) long
roman period, circa early 1st century a.d.
Molded with the lips pursed into a slight smile, the face painted bright yellow, the eyes white with brown-rimmed black irises, with red in their corners, the eyes rimmed in blue, the brows in blue with black cross-hatching, depicted wearing a striped nemes-headcloth with a banded border, a winged sun-disk with flanking uraei above the forehead, a band above with six cobras on either side of an ankh-sign, the back in two registers, the upper with a winged sun-disk with pendant cobras each supporting a large feather, symbols of Maat, all above the mummy, the lower with a human-headed Ba-bird with outstretched wings, the hair tied in a fillet, surmounted by a sun-disk, clutching feathers in its talons and holding feathers in the hands, with four columns of hieroglyphic text above containing variations of the "spells of Osiris" indicating his various epithets written in "cryptographic" hieroglyphs, and a single column of hieroglyphic text reading "Spell by Osiris, Foremost of the Westerners," the left side with two of the sons of Horus, baboon-headed Hapy and human-headed Imsety, together with Nephthys, standing before a falcon-headed deity, the right side with two of the Sons, jackal-headed Duamutef and falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, together with Nephthys, standing before Osiris, the left side with two columns of hieroglyphic text, "Spell by Osiris, Living Eternally"
16½ in. (41.9 cm) long