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Lot 251

An Egyptian painted stucco mummy mask of a young man

3 July 2019, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

£8,000 - £12,000

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An Egyptian painted stucco mummy mask of a young man
Roman Period, circa 1st Century A.D.
Depicted with almond-shaped eyes beneath thin brows, his pert mouth slightly smiling, with a dimpled chin, remains of a blue and pink wig band running across the forehead and over each ear, details in added red, yellow, black and blue, 17cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Goetz family collection, USA, acquired in the 1960s or earlier.
with Arte Primitivo, New York, 2018.

In addition to cartonnage masks or painted portraits on wood or cloth, stucco masks were used as an alternative form of funerary portraiture during the Roman Period. These often formed part of the lid of a wooden coffin. While mould-made, such masks were highly individualised, with 'distinguishing details worked in plaster with a spatula or knife, then painted or gilded' (S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt, London, 1997, p. 131).

Additional information

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