The face is not a portrait but a generic image of the deceased recognition of the deceased by its wandering ba-spirit was by means of an inscribed name.
The addition of gold leaf, for those who could afford it, emphasised a connection between the deceased and the gods – whose flesh was believed to be of untarnishable gold. Cartonnage was used for mummy masks from the Middle Kingdom onwards, but became a very popular material for entire coffins by the Third Intermediate Period. It has been painted and the face has been covered in a fine layer of gold. The mask is made from cartonnage, a material resembling papier-mâché, made from layers of linen and plaster. At some point after its arrival in the Museum the mask was subject to modern restoration for display. From the Huaca Loro burial mound of Batan Grande, 900-1375 CE. Colored glass paste forms the eyes and eyebrows. The face above the mask represents a bat. This funerary gold mask originally covered the face of the mummy of Wendjebauendjed, an army general of Psusennes I.
7931)came to the Manchester Museum from the collection of local architect William Sharp Ogden in 1925, and reputedly derives from the Luxor area. A gold mask and headdress assemblage from the Lambayeque civilization of northern Peru. Campbell Price investigates a striking New Kingdom mummy mask in the third in his series featuring key items from the collection of the Manchester Museum. 3: A Gilded Mummy Mask From The Early New Kingdom Ancient Egypt | Issue 100ĭr.
