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Egyptian Antiquities :
Masterpieces of Egyptian Art : Egyptian Painted Plaster Funerary Mask of a Man
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Egyptian Painted Plaster Funerary Mask of a Man - X.0178
Origin: Egypt
Circa: 2
nd
Century AD
Dimensions:
9.5" (24.1cm) high
Collection: Egyptian
Medium: Plaster, Glass
Additional Information: Korea
Location: Great Britain
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| Description |
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This gorgeous plaster funerary mask
reveals
that
the traditional Egyptian arts
continued to
flourish
even under Roman rule. In fact, the
Egyptian
style was reinvigorated with a healthy
dose
of
Roman classicism that elegantly merges
with
the
stylized traditions of Egypt. The
owner of
this
portrait is depicted as a mature male
aristocrat
with neatly trimmed hair, beard, and
moustache.
The artists took great pains to
indicate the
nuanced differences between the
elegantly
rendered snail-shaped curls of hair
and that
of
the moustache and beard. The moustache
consists of finely incised striations
whereas
the
beard, in order to suggest its
fullness, is
ornamented with a series of seemingly
irregular
notches. This facial hair imbues the
figure
with a
sense of gravitas, or seriousness of
purpose,
which is reinforced by his heavily-
lidded
eyes,
framed by eye brows in raised relief,
painted
black, and the slightly open mouth
conveyed
by a
subtle parting of the lips. One is,
consequently,
confronted by a portrait of an elder
statesman.
This seriousness of purpose is rooted
in the
portrait traditions of the earlier
Augustan
Period
of the Roman Empire, but the beard and
moustache betray their second century
AD
date.
The individual depicted was certainly
an elite
member of Egyptian society and was
probably
regarded by his contemporaries as an
elder
statesmen. He is so depicted for
eternity
since
this mask covered the head of his
mummy.
The
portrait finds its closest
correspondences in
painted panels of the period, and its
excellent
state of preservation is remarkable.
References:
Compare, a head in Copenhagen, Ny
Carlsberg
Glyptotek AEIN 1386: Klaus Parlasca
and
Hellmut
Seemann [editors], Augenblicke.
Mujmienporträts
und ägyptische Grabkunst aus römischer
Zeit
(Munich 1999), for the Augustan
antecedents
of
our portrait, and page 237, catalogue
number
144, for a portrait on painted on a
panel
which
shares the same features encountered
in our
head.
- (X.0178)
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