A ROMANO-EGYPTIAN PAINTED PLASTER PORTRAIT MASK OF A YOUNG WOMAN

EARLY 2ND CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMANO-EGYPTIAN PAINTED PLASTER PORTRAIT MASK OF A YOUNG WOMAN
EARLY 2ND CENTURY A.D.
On a painted plaster coffin lid, the young girl with a fringed row of curls, her long plaited hair pulled back and coiled up in a bun on top, two plaits hanging down, wearing a simple fringed green head-scarf and flesh-coloured tunic with two blue clavi, her ornaments including two snake-bracelets worn on each wrist and two rings on her left hand; the painted cartonnage support at the back of the head decorated with a ladder pattern and row of stars, with the winged figure of her ba-bird soul emerging, arms upraised, with sun-disc above, the Four Sons of Horus with an altar of offerings to either side, mounted
22¼ in. (58 cm.) high

Lot Essay

The hairstyle, reminiscent of that worn by Hadrian's wife, the Empress Sabina, and her costume, contrasted with the Egyptian funerary scenes of the soul accompanied by the Four Sons of Horus on the journey to eternal life in the Kingdom of Osiris, reflect the fusion of three cultures - Roman, Greek and Egyptian. It is probable that the owner would have been Greek or of Graeco-Egyptian ancestry, Greek-speaking, who adopted the latest Roman fashion, but was embalmed or mummified according to Egyptian funerary customs so that the body and soul remained unseparated.

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