©Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

The mummy mask of a lady

Object Number

BSAe 1239

Cultural area

Egypt

Epoch

Middle Kingdom

Basic information

Cartonnage, polychrome paint, h. 50.2 cm Middle Kingdom, 11th Dynasty, c. 2000 BC Inv. BSAe 1239

Provenance

Donation 2014 Sonja and Hans Humbel, Zurich. Acquired 1997. Formerly US-American private collection of the 1930s.

Description

Large numbers of painted cartonnage masks are familiar from Egypt’s Graeco-Roman period, but their production had already begun in the Middle Kingdom. Cartonnage was made of several layers of linen or papyrus, glued together. While still damp, it was an ideal material for modelling masks and coffins. Once dry, a layer of plaster could be applied, giving a smooth surface which could then be painted. This mummy mask of a woman is a very early example, dating from the 11th Dynasty. Her eyes and eyebrows are painted in black and light blue on a yellow face, with two red dots at the corners of the eyes representing stylised lacrimal glands. She is wearing a broad collar around her neck, consisting of several rows of alternating red and blue tubular beads, and an unusual, black, three-part wig with short tresses at the front and a green headband. The most striking aspect of her image, however, is the depiction of the breasts, with the nipples highlighted in black paint. Although unusual, this portrait is not surprising, since unconventional and individual depictions were typical of the art of the First Intermediate Period. Similar masks, of men as well as women, are known from the cemeteries of Asyut and Beni Hasan. Intact burials show that the heads of the mummified and bandaged bodies were covered with masks like ours, and the corpses were then laid in painted wooden coffins along with various grave goods such as canes, pots and amulets.

Bibliography

Sotheby’s, Antiquities and Islamic Art, Wednesday December 17, New York 1997, Lot 76; A. Wiese, Ägyptische Kunst im Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, Neue Leihgaben und Erwerbungen in provisorischer Aufstellung (Basel 1998) Nr. 30.; A. Wiese, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig. Die Ägyptische Abteilung (Mainz 2001) 75 Nr. 41; Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, Katalog 101 Meisterwerke (2022) 42f. Nr. 9 Parallele: É. Chassinat – C. Palanque, Une campagne de fouilles dans la nécropole d'Assiout (Le Caire 1911) Taf. III. XXI. XXVIf. Nudo!. Tesori del Museo del Antichità di Basilea (Cecina 2019) 28, Nr. 2.