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Funerary mask
Egyptian
Roman Imperial Period
A.D. 1–50
Medium/Technique
Painted and gilded cartonnage, inlaid glass
Dimensions
Height: 57.2 cm (22 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Partial gift of Lucien Viola and Museum purchase with the Horace L. and Florence E. Mayer Fund, Helen and Alice Colburn Fund, Marilyn M. Simpson Fund, William Francis Warden Fund, and William Stevenson Smith Fund
Accession Number1993.555.1
ClassificationsTomb equipment – Masks
Provenance1910, possibly excavated at Meir, Egypt, by Ahmed Kamal for Sayed Pasha Khashaba, Assiut; about 1960, possibly sold by the heirs of Khashaba to a Swiss collection [see note 1], possibly referring to Maguid Sameda (dealer; b. 1900), Cairo and Lucerne; sold by Sameda to Ernst E. Kofler (dealer), Lucerne; by 1988, sold by Kofler to Lucien Viola, L'Ibis Gallery, New York [see note 2]; 1993, partial sale by L'Ibis Gallery and partial gift of Lucien Viola to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 23, 1993)
NOTES: [1] Dietrich Wildung, "Mumienmasken aus Meir: Neuerwerbung des Ägyptischen Museums," Jahrbuch Preussischer Kulturbesitz 26 (1990): p. 225, discusses the provenance of a group of similar mummy masks from Meir. After being sold around 1960, the group is said to have changed hands several times and then been offered for sale in 1988. Four were purchased by the Egyptian museum in Berlin in 1989. [2] Included in the exhibition "Cleopatra Reborn: An Artistic Tribute to a Queen" (L'Ibis Gallery, New York, November 22, 1988 - March 31, 1989).
NOTES: [1] Dietrich Wildung, "Mumienmasken aus Meir: Neuerwerbung des Ägyptischen Museums," Jahrbuch Preussischer Kulturbesitz 26 (1990): p. 225, discusses the provenance of a group of similar mummy masks from Meir. After being sold around 1960, the group is said to have changed hands several times and then been offered for sale in 1988. Four were purchased by the Egyptian museum in Berlin in 1989. [2] Included in the exhibition "Cleopatra Reborn: An Artistic Tribute to a Queen" (L'Ibis Gallery, New York, November 22, 1988 - March 31, 1989).