Ancient Egyptian Wooden Huge Mummy Sarcophagus Mask- 36×20 cm

Ca. 1550-1070 BC. A substantial large, carved wooden mask with finely modeled facial features Good condition; on a custom stand; Size: L: 360mm / W: 200mm (w/o stand) ; 1. 7kg Provenance: Obtained from B. C. ; previously in a collection formed since the 1960s on the UK and European art market. About Sarcophagi and coffins for the dead in Ancient Egypt: The main purpose of these containers was the protection of the corpse from scavenging animals and tomb robbers. They also served an important religious role through their shape and decoration, which changed and developed over the whole of ancient Egyptian history. The following is a very brief description. In Ancient Egypt, the earliest tombs were seen as the eternal dwelling places of the deceased, and the oldest coffins resembled miniature homes in appearance. They were made of small pieces of local wood doweled together. In the Old Kingdom, a golden Era of Ancient Egyptian history, coffins were rectangular boxes with flat lids. Mostly those were painted with hieroglyphs with four important features: the deceased's name and titles; a list of food offerings; a false door through which the ka (soul of the deceased) could pass; and eyes through which the deceased could see outside the coffin. The body was laid to rest in the coffin on its left side, so its face would be directly lined up with the elegant painted eyes on the coffin's side. Later in what was called the Middle Kingdom the coffin was considered a miniature tomb, and it was decorated with many of the items that had formerly adorned the walls of the tomb. The important goddesses Isis and Nephthys were painted as guards at the head and foot of the coffin. The inside floor of the coffin was painted with Nut, Isis, Osiris, or the Djed pillar (the backbone of Osiris) . The sides showed the four sons of Horus and other funerary deities. Most of the inscriptions gave not only the owner's name and titles, but also a prayer for offerings - the so called Hetep di Nesou formula (offerings made by the king) It was in the Middle Kingdom that the more well known anthropoid coffins appeared. These were coffins that were made to the outline of the mummy's body and decorated with the face and wig of the deceased. They not only had the mummy's form, but they also served as substitute bodies in case the mummy's body was lost or destroyed. As time went on, anthropoid coffins were decorated with an increasing number of scenes, prayers, formulae for offerings and other funerary inscriptions. . During the New Kingdom, coffins and mummy cases could be purchased ready-made. Once purchased, the owner's name and titles could be filled in the blanks left in the inscriptions. This is interesting because it means that there was a kind of funerary "industry" in Ancient Egypt. Herodotos wrote: " the Egyptians are the only people to my knowledge that spend so much money for the live after dead whilst living" Depending on the period and the wealth of the individual, it was fashionable to be buried in either one, two, or three different coffins. Multiple coffins would be nested one inside the other. Here is the Spell 169 - The Book of the Dead "Raise yourself upon your right side, lift yourself upon your left side, for Geb will open for you your blind eyes, he will straighten your bent knees, and there will be given to you your heart which you had from your mother, your heart which belongs to your body. " Most coffins were made from a multitude of smaller parts of wood, as Egypt was not rich in woods. The wood for boats, construction and ultimately coffins was imported from far overseas - the most well known place: what is today Lebanon, for the wood of the mighty ceders. the wood was insectrepellent, interesting to take care of the mummy and to ward off the pests of the desert as there are the scarabs that tend to feast on unprotected tissue. And also the ceder oil was used to clean the inside of the dead body in the course of the mummification process - as well as it was used as an ointment for both living and dead. On this mask (back side) you can see the dowels still in the holes made in the wood to attach it to the coffin. This shows the construction way of doing things and shows that sarcophagi were not made like canoes, but more like big boats, with dowels and pecks put together. Afterwards they were often (but not always) stuccoed and painted to make this construction work invisible.