Head from a coffin
- Roman Period
- Egypt, Faīyum
- 1st-2nd century B.C.
- Gilded wood and incrustations of ivory and jet
- Height: 29.5 cm
- INV. 203-126
Perpetuating a long Egyptian tradition, the Roman Period, ancillary to its production of funerary masks in painted plaster and stuccoed canvas, also made use of wood coffins sculpted with the deceased’s effigy, in the manner of a funerary statue [1].
In addition, the gilding of this face confirms the permanence of the ancient belief that the new state of the deceased, who has been promoted to the Areopagus of the gods, was signified by the brilliance of his gilded face. It was thus the affirmation of his divine character, emphasized by that gold, which represented “the flesh of the gods.”
[1] Cf. for example, Aubert and Cortopassi 1998, no. 68; and Corbelli 2006, p. 55.
- Michel Valloggia
- Le profane et le divin, arts de l’Antiquité. Fleurons du musée Barbier-Mueller, musée Barbier-Mueller & Hazan (éd.), 2008 : p. 324.
