Head from a Coffin Lid
© Bruce M. White, 2022

72-Gilded Cartonnage Mask

Title Gilded Cartonnage Mask
Era Egyptian, Ptolemaic Period, 3rd Century BCE
Medium Cartonnage, paint
Credit Gift of the Georges Ricard Foundation. 2018.10.127

This mask once covered the head and upper chest of the wrapped mummy. A polychrome wig frames a gilded face, with its lappets resting over an ornamented collar. Deities are painted on a dark yellow background, with details highlighted in pink, blue, and green. The wig lappets are divided into three registers with identical motifs of falcons, the mummy before the seated Osiris, and the four sons of Horus. To either side of the wig are rosettes, udjat eyes, and various geometric motifs. A pink headband encircles the wig, attached to a golden ring. At the top of the wig, a winged scarab stretches its wings over the band. At the back, the vulture goddess Nekhbet, wearing an Atef-crown, stretches out her wings over the top of the mask. On the back of the mask are the figures of Isis and Nephthys protecting the mummy.

MH

Head from a Coffin Lid
© Bruce M. White, 2022