This half face of a woman or theatrical mask was made from a bundle of dozens of colorful glass rods that were fused together. The resulting bar or cane of glass was then heated and stretched out, thereby miniaturizing the pattern. Slices of the cane were placed in symmetrical pairs to form a complete face. Such inlays embellished furniture, boxes, and household shrines to the gods.
Date
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Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1923), p. 120 (ill.).
Roberta Casagrande-Kim, ed., When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra. Exh. cat. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), pp. 25,107, fig. 1-11, cat. 147.
Sidney Goldstein, “Cat. 78 Fragment of an Inlay Depicting a Theater Mask: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
Sidney Goldstein, “Cats. 78–79 Two Fragments of Inlays Depicting Theater Masks: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 155A, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, When the Greeks Ruled: Egypt After Alexander the Great, October 31, 2013 - July 27, 2014; traveled to New York City, NY, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, October 8, 2014 - January 4, 2015.
Art Institute of Chicago, Dionysos Unmasked: Ancient Sculpture and Early Prints, Gallery 150 and 154, July 31, 2015 - February 15, 2016.
Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859-1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894; price reimbursed by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson, 1894.
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