Gilded Egypto-Roman mask, Alexandria
)
Links to other views:⇒ Larger Viewif scripting is off, click the ⇒ instead. Links to others from Graeco-Roman PeriodIridescent alabastron, Alexandria, 50 BCRibbed glass bowl, Alexandria, 50 BC-50 AD Links to others of type MaskGilded funerary mask, Dyn. 20Gilded mummy mask of a queen, Dyn. 21 |
This gilded cartonnage with inlaid eyes of glass portrays a boy who lived around 30 BC- 100 AD. “These minor works of art are some of the most vivid and realistic to be seen anywhere in the Roman world. No doubt they would be commissioned from a highly skilled artist and, as they have an almost photographic degree of realism, they appear to have been executed while the individual was still alive” (Shaw 2000:441-442). Cartonnage Cartonnage was a material used in the production of personal funerary ornamentation (masks, pectorals, foot casings, and sometimes whole coffins). It was made with several layers of linen glued together and shaped in a mold. The resulting shell was usually coated on one side with gesso (a mixture of glue and whiting plaster). This smooth medium was well suited to detailed painting and gold leafing. Although earlier examples are known, it is around Dynasty 18 that cartonnage became a material of choice, and it remained a popular medium though the roman period. In later times, the linen layers were sometimes replaced with recycled papyrus documents. Many of the papyri currently studied by Egyptologists were recovered from cartonnage. Bibliography (for this item)Shaw, Ian2000 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. ( 441-442) Bibliography (on Cartonnage)Duke University,1991 Duke Papyrus Archive. http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus/, Durham, NC. Lucas, A., and J.R. Harris 1999 Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries (unabridged republication of the 1962 fourth edition by Edward Arnold Publishers). Dover Publications, New York, NY. |
){kind=link}