Art Institute of Chicago

Funerary Mask

Egyptian; probably from Hawara, Egypt

Date

Late Ptolemaic Period-early Roman Period, 1st century BCE

Medium

Cartonnage, gold leaf, and pigment

Culture

Egypt

Department

Arts of Africa

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Funerary masks protected the head and chest of a mummified body. They present an idealized version of the wearer, ensuring that they would continue to breathe, eat, hear, see, and speak in the next life. Preserving the body and its individual parts through mummification or depiction was essential to life after death in ancient Egypt. Potent symbols, such as the amulets shaped like anatomical hearts strung around the neck of the mask here, provided an extra layer of protection. For ancient Egyptians the heart—not the brain—was the center of thought and emotion. In the final judgment, a tribunal of gods weighed the deceased’s heart against the feather of Maat (truth) to determine whether they had led a just life, which included providing for the poor, widows, and orphans and avoiding misdeeds such as theft and murder. A balanced scale granted entrance to the afterlife, while a heavy heart doomed its owner to an eternity of nonexistence.

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