Egyptian; probably from Hawara, Egypt
Funerary Mask
INV-6431
Egyptian; probably from Hawara, EgyptLate Ptolemaic Period-early Roman Period, 1st century BCE
Funerary Mask
Egyptian; probably from Hawara, Egypt →roman period (egyptian)greco-roman (egyptian)ancientmummy goodsmummy masks
Date
Late Ptolemaic Period-early Roman Period, 1st century BCE
Medium
Cartonnage, gold leaf, and pigment
Dimensions
46 × 33.3 × 28 cm (18 1/8 × 13 1/8 × 11 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
W. Moses Willner Fund
Funerary masks protected the head and chest of a mummified body. They present an idealized version of the wearer, ensuring that they would continue to breathe, eat, hear, see, and speak in the next life. Preserving the body and its individual parts through mummification or depiction was essential to life after death in ancient Egypt. Potent symbols, such as the amulets shaped like anatomical hearts strung around the neck of the mask here, provided an extra layer of protection. For ancient Egyptians the heart—not the brain—was the center of thought and emotion. In the final judgment, a tribunal of gods weighed the deceased’s heart against the feather of Maat (truth) to determine whether they had led a just life, which included providing for the poor, widows, and orphans and avoiding misdeeds such as theft and murder. A balanced scale granted entrance to the afterlife, while a heavy heart doomed its owner to an eternity of nonexistence.
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