NEW KINGDOM, 19TH-20TH DYNASTY, 1307-1070 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN WOOD MASK
NEW KINGDOM, 19TH-20TH DYNASTY, 1307-1070 B.C.
From the lid of an anthropoid coffin, finely sculpted, originally framed by a smooth wig, the lappets not preserved, sporting a long chin beard curved out at its tip, with incised vertical striations along its length, angled striations on the sides, his broad mouth with full lips pursed into a smile, the corners indented, his slender nose with incisions defining the outer edges of the nostrils, the eyes inlaid with ivory for the sclerae and obsidian for the irises, framed in bronze sockets with extending cosmetic lines, the conforming brows once also inlaid in bronze, now missing, with three rectangular mortises on the reverse to secure the head in place
18 in. (45.7 cm.) long

Provenance

with J.J. Klejman, New York, 1960s-1970s.
Isidore Cohen (1898-1991), New York; thence by descent to the present owner.

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

As there are no traces of pigment preserved on this fine wood mask, it likely served as the intermediate coffin of a three-case ensemble. Other examples with a natural wood finish are known, beginning with the model sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, as well as several belonging to the Priests of Montu, where only the wigs, jewelry and inscriptions were painted (see Haynes, p. 164, in D'Auria, Lacovara and Roehrig, Mummies and Magic, The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt). For another example with similar ivory and obsidian eye inlays framed in bronze see pp. 54-55 in Strudwick and Taylor, Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt: Treasures from the British Museum.

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