Details

LOT 0478

Large Egyptian Faience Beaded Mummy Mask with Sons of Horus

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 332-30 B.C.

11 3/4 in. (123 grams, 30 cm).

Restrung netted beadwork panel of annular and tubular glazed composition beads in blues, greens, black, cream and red-brown colours, depicting a mummy face mask with false beard, a scarab with extended wings below, the 'Four Sons of Horus’ beneath the scarab, joined together with areas of open netting of tubular beads; restrung with some later beads.

Provenance

Ex Mariaud de Serres, Paris, France, 1980-1990s.
From a London, UK, collection.

Literature

Cf. Manley, B., and Dodson, A., Life Everlasting. National Museum of Scotland Collection of Ancient Egyptian Coffins, Edinburgh, 2010, p.114, no.43, for a bead-work shroud incorporating the mask, winged scarab, and Four Sons of Horus.

Footnotes

The Four Sons of Horus were deities responsible for protecting the internal organs of the deceased. The human-headed Imsety protected the liver, the baboon-headed Hapy protected the lungs, the jackal-headed Duamutef protected the stomach, and the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef protected the intestines.