Golden Mummies : Mask

Golden Mummies

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This cartonnage mask is but one of a whole series shaped on a mould to aid mass production. While glittering golden skin identified the deceased as divine, the use of blue for the headdress alludes to the belief that ancient Egyptian deities had hair of lapis lazuli, a semi-precious blue stone much prized by the ancient Egyptians. The echeloned pattern and wide-open eyes are typical of the Ptolemaic Period (c. 332-30 BCE). </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Additional protection might be provided by amuletic symbols. The wedjat eye – or ‘Eye of Horus’ – represented the eye of the god Horus injured by his evil uncle Seth and restored by his mother Isis, a powerful magician. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>In Ptolemaic times this motif was especially protective when worn on the brow of the deceased, as here. Actual wedjat eye amulets have been identified, using CT-scan technology, to have been placed directly upon the forehead of mummified bodies.</p>