These helmet-like masks were placed over the wrapped head of a mummy. They are made of cartonnage—layers of linen and gesso decorated with pigment and gold leaf.1

Cat. 107 has a well-modeled, triangular face with thin, elongated eyebrows, a high bridge of the nose, eyes that are canted upward and highlighted by thin, long cosmetic lines, a mouth with a heavy lower lip, a longer, off-center upper lip, and a pronounced philtrum. The front of the wig is striped and banded with gold, representing hair ornaments. The ends of the lappets have three rows of rosettes. The stripes on the wig radiate from a half circle at the top of the head (fig. 1). A line of dark red pigment traces the margin of the wig around the face and along the edges of the lappets (see this same feature on the stoppers of the canopic jars in cats. 101–4). A wedjat eye amulet that conveys health and wholeness appears on the forehead, flanked by six round bosses. The back of the mask is a plain field of dark blue-gray pigment, setting off the large knot of the seshed headband that, according to myths, was given to Osiris by Isis and Nephthys as a sign of his rebirth.^[1] A fringe of curly hair emerges from under the head cover—a representation of bangs, which, from a modern perspective, appears to be a mark of femininity and has been related to statues of Ptolemaic kings shown with stray locks that emerge from the nemes headdress. It has also been suggested that representing hair on the forehead was the beginning of a trend of depicting naturalistic features of the individual that became more apparent in Roman-era masks.^[2]2

The deceased is shown wearing a tiny amulet of the human heart (see cat. 88), suspended from a chain high up on the throat. The heart, which was considered to be the seat of human emotions, was implored to not give false witness against the deceased at the time of judgment. Its appearance here may convey that the heart was true to the deceased. The chest is covered with a molded representation of a broad collar of gold beads, ornamented at the top with a gold, winged disk amulet that symbolizes the deceased’s ability to travel across the sky with the sun to be reborn eternally each day. Below are five rows of floral and geometric beads, another row of small circular beads, and a final row of teardrop-shaped beads. According to Book of the Dead Spell 158, these gold collars were “to be put at the throat of the blessed one [the deceased] on the day of joining the earth.”^[3]
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Additional Views of Cat. 107

The goddesses Isis and Nephthys appear on the proper right and proper left shoulders, respectively. They kneel, each holding a hand to her face in an attitude of mourning. They wear long kilts and their torsos are bare. Because they usually stand at either side of the funerary bier of Osiris, the mummy itself, represented here by the gilded face, is the subject of their grief. Checkered patterns appear above and below the goddesses, with the lower pattern of checks in the form of the hieroglyph neb, 𓎟, meaning “lord.”4

The lower front edge of the mask has a frieze of gods that is very rarely seen, although it appears with variations on all three of the Chicago masks. Here, it shows Osiris in the center, seated on the block throne of a god and holding a crook and flail (see cats. 18 and 28 for other examples of Osiris holding these attributes). He wears his usual atef crown. Bare-chested figures of women kneel on either side of him, their arms spread apart. Behind them are the falcon-headed Re (proper left) and the ibis-headed Thoth (proper right), who are usually shown at the weighing of the heart. They, like the other standing gods, carry strips of fabric, a reference to the mummy-state of the deceased and perhaps to the red headband worn by Osiris.^[4] Behind them on both sides are figures of the jackal-headed Anubis, their hands held up in a gesture of adoration, and the mummiform Four Sons of Horus, two on each side (see cats. 72, 99, and 101–4 for the Four Sons of Horus).5

The identification of the two female figures beside Osiris raises some questions. Thomas George Allen claims that they represent the deceased.^[5] As stated above, depictions of the deceased on these masks are very rare and are usually limited to generic, mummiform figures. The women are probably intended to be deities, as indicated by their arm gestures, which mimic those of the two gods behind them. The most obvious identification for a pair of goddesses flanking Osiris would be Isis and Nephthys. Indeed, their arms resemble the protective spreading of a bird’s wings—a pose assumed by the goddesses.^[6] Yet they lack their characteristic crowns. Alternatively (or simultaneously), they may represent the deceased in the guise of those deities. Considering the uncertainties of the identification and interpretation of these female figures, using their presence as a reason to conclude that this mask was made for a woman may be problematic.6

The interior of the mask’s bottom front edge is lined with a strip of linen (fig. 2). A line of Ptolemaic hieroglyphs drawn carefully on it reads, in part, “Back Seth from […]!” which is the beginning of a spell to protect the deceased from the evil god Seth.^[7] This is one of the few examples of a mask with an inscription other than a personal name.^[8]
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Cat. 108 is so similar to cat. 107 that it is surely from the same workshop. It also once had a wedjat eye on the forehead—now lost, but its outline remains—and the overall color palette is the same. The treatment of the head cover is also very similar, and the same knotted seshed fillet appears on the back. The philtrum is represented by a prominent, raised trapezoid that also appears on cat. 107.
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However, there is considerable variation between the two masks. The gold collar on cat. 108 lacks the winged disk found on cat. 107. The curled bangs on the forehead of cat. 107 are represented by vertical stripes on cat. 108. Compared to cat. 107, the face of cat. 108 is longer and narrower, and the eyes and eyebrows are more upturned at the outer edges. On cat. 108, Isis is on the proper left shoulder and Nephthys is on the proper right, the opposite of their placement on cat. 107. The scenes of the gods on the lower edges also show minor differences. On cat. 108, bare-chested figures of Isis (on the proper left) and Nephthys (on the proper right), identified by the emblems on their heads, flank Osiris, their raised arms outstretched in a gesture of adoration. Behind them appear Thoth (on the left) and Anubis (on the right). Between those gods and the Four Sons of Horus, two of whom are shown on each side, is a bare-breasted woman in an attitude of mourning. This is very probably an image of the deceased herself, depicted in a much less schematic and more gender-specific way than the usual mummiform representation.9

Although the treatment of the wig and the head ornaments give the mask in cat. 109 an overall look different from that of the other two, the modeling of the face, including the high bridge of the nose, the upward cant of the eyes, the long, thin eyebrows that turn up at the outer ends, the dark red lines that surround the edges of the wig, the molded elements of the collar, and the bottom frieze of small-scale figures, suggest that it, too, was from the same workshop.
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Additional Views of Cat. 109

However, there are also major differences between cat. 109, and cats. 107–8. The mouth in cat. 109 is oddly formed, with the top and bottom lips being of the same shape. But the most striking difference is the treatment of the head cover and its ornaments. Although the head cover in cat. 109 has the same three bands of rosettes on the ends of the lappets, the wig itself is not striped. A large solar disk with rearing uraei is positioned on the middle of the forehead over a seshed fillet that has the usual large knot on the back of the head. The top of the head is covered with the outspread wings of a scarab beetle, whose body, now lost, was once attached to the top of the mask. The wings have molded decoration that resembles the modeled stucco of later masks. The winged beetle is an image of the sun that was reborn at dawn each day, referring to the eternal rebirth of the deceased.11

The shoulders on cat. 109 are fields of red, perhaps imitating red-painted mummy wrappings. The checkered patterns on cats. 107–8 are replaced in cat. 109 by nested rectangles. The lower frieze of gods, part of which is now lost, is framed with a narrow band of color blocks banded in gold. The enthroned Osiris is flanked by birds with sun disks on their heads that probably represent Isis and Nephthys in their form as kites (a type of raptor). The birds hold feathers that convey truth and justification. Two more pairs of birds appear on each side, their wings spread in protection of gods who crouch on low platforms, wearing sun disks on their heads and holding plumes.
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Masks in the Funerary Cult

These masks functioned on several levels. Primarily, they expressed the divinity of the deceased. This role is articulated by Spell 151 in the Book of the Dead, in which the different parts of the mask—the left and right eyes, the back of the head, the nape of the neck, and the eyebrows—were associated with the same elements of various gods, thereby equating the deceased with the imperishable deities.^[9] On another level, each mask also served as a duplicate head so that the soul (ba) of the deceased would recognize the deceased as it migrated in and out of the tomb each day. Additionally, through the principal of substitution that is such an essential element of Egyptian art, the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth of the mask were duplicates of the physical features that ensured that the deceased’s ability to see, smell, hear, and speak would not be lost in the afterlife.13

The use of gold leaf on these and other masks expresses the deceased’s transformation into a god, for the gods were thought to have flesh of gold. The radiance of gold is also related to the brilliance of the sun, for the deceased was believed to be reborn each morning as the sun god, Re, emerged from the darkness. The use of Egyptian blue pigment to represent the wig likewise indicates the deceased’s divine state, as Egyptian gods were believed to have hair made of lapis lazuli (fig. 3).14

As with so many aspects of Egyptian art, these masks were a longstanding element of burials. Cartonnage masks appeared first in the late Old Kingdom but became more common in the Middle Kingdom, some two thousand years before the examples shown here.^[10] Some enveloped the head; others covered only the front of the head and the neck. They are closely related in style to contemporary coffins. There is little information about how these cartonnage masks were made, but the front section was certainly molded over a form.^[11] The best-known mask is that of Tutankhamun, which is made of gold inlaid with glass and stone.^[12] 15

Masks and the Identity of the Deceased

These masks are very idealized, and, like most Egyptian sculpture and relief, they do not replicate the individualized features of the deceased. It is especially ironic that these masks, which were such an important element of an individual’s eternal existence, are usually not inscribed with the name of the deceased.^[13] Among the Ptolemaic and early Roman Period masks, it is usually impossible to determine even the gender of the deceased with any certainty.16

Unlike on coffins (see cats. 98–100), on which the deceased is often shown being presented to or adoring the gods, figurative decoration other than images of the gods is very rare on masks. It is usually limited to a very generic, nongendered figure that represents what is presumably the deceased in a mummified state.^[14] Exceptionally, two of the three Chicago masks have small female figures on their lower edges, which suggest they may have been made for women, although this cannot be proved. It is not until the later Roman Period, when masks appeared with molded plaster details of unmistakable diagnostic features like breasts, facial hair, arm positions, and apparel, that gender is again expressed overtly.^[15]17

Date and Origin

Although certain groups of masks with gilded faces can be dated within a fairly close range, most others are loosely assigned to the Greco-Roman Period.^[16] The cemetery from which these masks were recovered is not known, although they resemble masks from Hawara that were excavated by William Matthew Flinders Petrie in 1888 and 1910.^[17]18

Provenance

107.
The Art Institute of Chicago, acquired in 1910.19

108.
The Art Institute of Chicago, acquired in 1910.20

109.
The Art Institute of Chicago, acquired in 1910.21

Publication History

107.
Art Institute of Chicago, Thirty-Second Annual Report: June 1, 1910–June 1, 1911 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago 1911), 19, 62.22

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 16, 17 (ill.).23

Emily Teeter, “Egyptian Art,” in “Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” special issue, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 20, no. 1 (1994): 29, 30 (ill.), no. 15.24

Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago, by Karen Manchester (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2012), 26.25

Roberta Casagrande-Kim, ed., When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, with contributions by Mary C. Greuel et al., exh. cat. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 2014), 18, 19, fig. 1-1.26

Sandra E. Knudsen, with contributions by Rachel C. Sabino, “Cats. 155–156, Two Mummy Portraits: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Katharine A. Raff (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), para. 24, figs. 155–56.7.27

Ashley F. Arico and Elizabeth Benge, “A New Look at Faces from the Past,” Art Institute of Chicago ARTicle (blog), March 14, 2019.28

108.
Art Institute of Chicago, Thirty-Second Annual Report: June 1, 1910–June 1, 1911 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago 1911), 19, 62.29

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 16–17.30

Lorelei H. Corcoran, Gilded Funerary Mask, Oriental Institute Museum Featured Object Number 7, brochure (Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1988).31

Karen L. Wilson and Joan D. Barghusen, The Oriental Institute Museum: Highlights from the Collection (Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1989), no. 19.32

Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago, by Karen Manchester (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2012), 26.33

109.
Art Institute of Chicago, Thirty-Second Annual Report: June 1, 1910–June 1, 1911 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1911), 19, 62.34

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 16, 17 (ill.).35

Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago, by Karen Manchester (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2012), 26, 27, fig. 11.
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