Origin: Fayum
Circa: 1 st Century BC to 2 nd Century AD
Dimensions: 9" (22.9cm) high
Collection: Egyptian
Style: Roman period
Medium: Plaster
This beautiful plaster mask comes from the Fayum Region of Egypt during the Roman Period, approximately 1st to 2nd century AD. It was created from an impression of a person’s face and used for funerary purposes. The Egyptians took extraordinary care in the handling of their dead and their funerary customs demonstrated the great respect the Egyptians held for the realm of the afterlife. Portraits such as this three-dimensional one, and the famous two-dimensional Fayum encaustic portraits, were often crafted during the person’s life to portray them at the pinnacle of verve and vivacity, and were then buried with their mummy after the person’s passing. These have often been discovered in communal burial contexts.
The stylization of this piece bears the marks of Roman influence, particularly in the hairstyle, barely visible at the brow, and the formation of the lips. The eyes are depicted as blackened with kohl, a traditional Egyptian cosmetic custom, and the individual wears the traditional Egyptian headdress. The individual also has the slightest hint of a mustache, perhaps in expression of local Egyptian styles rather than Roman ones. The overall appearance of the item bears witness to the syncretistic styles of the Romano-Egyptian period. Judging by the great care that is put into this piece, as well as its imitation of early imperial styles of portraiture, the person was likely of noble extraction, perhaps from the Roman aristocracy that ruled Egypt during this period. - (SP.523)

Antiquities
Ancient Egyptian