It's not often we start a listing by stating the provenance, but in this case the pedigree is almost as impressive as the piece. Sold - Christies, December 1996; Ex Alan Dershowitz (legal and TV fame) / Carolyn Cohen collection, MA; published (Illustrated on the cover) in 2013 - Art of the Ancients, Aphrodite Ancient Art; featured - Pawn Stars, History Channel, August 14, 2017.

Egypt, Romano Egyptian Period, ca. 2nd century CE. A stunning mummy mask made from gesso-lined linen called cartonnage depicting the elegant visage of a youthful female. Presented in vibrant polychrome, the serene woman peers forward with almond eyes, elongated outer canthi, and sweeping brows lined with thick lashes, her head extending outwards and slightly downwards in a manner consistent with "Egyptian Group" masks. Full lips outlined with red pigment, a slender nose, and a rounded chin further emphasize her feminine grace, all beneath a headdress that rests low along the forehead. Dense decorations in traditional Egyptian stylization further embellish her timeless beauty. Size: 5.25" L x 13.625" W x 18.75" H (13.3 cm x 34.6 cm x 47.6 cm); 20.125" H (51.1 cm) on included custom stand.

The top of her head just in front of her diadem bears a red band containing a blue scarab flanked by a pair of segmented columns, 2 seated deities of unknown identity, an additional pair of columns, and 2 wadjet eyes. Beneath a curving brown band is a white-ground panel featuring a central sun disc with dangling triangular ornamentation - perhaps representing lotus blooms - flanked by the goddess sisters Isis and Nephthys as well as 2 papyrus columns and a pair of unidentified zoomorphic funerary deities holding their arms towards the sun. Outlining her head is a grand diadem bearing a plaited pattern above horizontal stripes in red and green, the midsections dotted with lotus buds, the terminals with recessed pink rosettes, and a pair of uraeus cobras emanating out from either side of a sun disc on the front. The upper corners show columns of polychrome panels, 2 panels containing a mummiform Osiris wearing an Atef crown and Horus or Ra in mummiform donning the Pschent crown. Stretching across the brow are 2 sphinxes atop column capitals as well as images of the ibis-headed god Thoth wearing an Atef crown, a left-facing human deity with a sun disc resting between a pair of horns; beneath this decorative register is a right-facing procession of royal uraei. Below the cobras are 2 windows each showing the sisters Isis and Nephthys anointing the body of the mummiform god Osiris beside sections of blue, pink, and white segmentation. Further below are 2 columns showing a rosette, a wadjet eye, and a recumbent Anubis jackal holding a pesesh-kef - a tool used during a ceremony known as the "opening of the mouth" - along with the body of the deceased resting atop a leonine-form embalming table and 2 sets of the 4 Sons of Horus wearing blue headdresses. An additional pair of sphinxes and a pair of Horus falcons with outstretched wings lie below the funerary fraternities, and an inverted T-shaped panel of triangles, petite floral beads, blue stripes, diagonal striations on a pink ground, checkerboarding, and additional painted beadwork completes the elaborate and visually dazzling composition. The verso of the mask shows the beige, khaki, and brown-hued linen framework that has been impregnated with bituminous material to solidify the linen as well as create a general likeness of the deceased that would hold for eons to come. One lower section even shows a plaster patch job that was included to perhaps fix a hole or abrasion made by the embalmer.

Given the size of both the sarcophagus mask itself as well as the interior head cavity, this was likely made for a young woman from a prominent, middle-to-upper-class family. While gilding was a popular decorative element for later Egyptian sarcophagi, embellishing with gold was reserved solely for those who could afford such luxuries. The lack of gilding on this example would perhaps indicate the somewhat lower status of this individual's family, however the artistry, polychrome pigments, and overall elevated craftsmanship suggests that perhaps the deceased was someone who favored substance rather than superficiality with their religious or spiritual ideals.

The use of cartonnage in the Ptolemaic and later Romano-Egyptian periods signified a transitional time in Egyptian funerary techniques from using a full, multi-part sarcophagus for the deceased to using fewer materials but with all the same decorative panache. These cartonnage masks, according to Egyptologists Dr. Salima Ikram and Dr. Aidan Dodson, "…are a reflection of a trend for the mummy to become free-standing, perhaps housed in a rectangular wooden sarcophagus, but without an intervening anthropoid coffin. This development came to fruition during the succeeding Roman Period which saw a range of outer treatments, some broadly maintaining earlier principles, while others diverged widely, although remaining true to basic concepts. The fundamental division is between mummies that conformed to a traditionally-derived 'Egyptian Group', and a 'Roman Group', which incorporated elements grounded in Classical art." They continue on to explain how, "The [Egyptian Group] continued with the use of separate cartonnage helmet-masks, together with other foot and body adornments in the same material. Distinctive points, however, are the head which was somewhat raised and angled forward…As time passed, masks took on a less 'Egyptian' look. A Hellenistic style prevailed in the area of the head and shoulders, while traditional Egyptian vignettes and ornamentation remained around the sides and crown of the head." (Ikram, Salima and Aidan Dodson. "The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity." Thames & Hudson, London, 1998, pp. 187-188)

Published in "Art of the Ancients: A Selection of Ancient Art." Aphrodite Ancient Art, New York, Vol. 1, 2013, pp. 8-9 and front cover

Cf. Ikram, Salima and Aidan Dodson. "The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the Dead for Eternity." Thames & Hudson, London, 1998, p. 187, fig. 218 and p. 188, figs. 220 & 221; The Walters Art Museum, accession number 78.3

A similar mask with gilding and fewer decorations from the 1st century CE hammered for $55,000 at Christie's, New York "Antiquities" auction (Live auction 1915, December 6, 2007, lot 35).

Provenance: ex-private Las Vegas, Nevada, USA collection; ex-Gold and Silver Pawn Store, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, acquired 2016. As see on Pawn Stars, "If the Pawn Don't Fit" (History Channel, August 14, 2017, season 14, episode 28); ex-Aphrodite Ancient Art, New York, New York, USA, published in "Art of the Ancients: A Selection of Ancient Art," Vol. 1, 2013, pp. 8-9 and front cover; ex-collection of Alan Dershowitz and Carolyn Cohen, Chilmark, Massachusetts, USA; ex-Christie's, New York "Antiquities" auction (auction 8568, December 18, 1996, lot 82, hammered for $9,775, published in corresponding catalog)

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#170552

Obverse gesso layer repaired from dozens of small pieces with restoration and new material to missing areas, and resurfacing with extensive overpainting across new material and break lines; the linen layer on the verso is intact albeit with some plaster patches placed in antiquity given the desiccated nature. Losses around most peripheral areas, with fading and heavy overpainting to pigment, with light abrasions, and softening to some finer raised details. Verso also shows some dark bituminous resin used to stabilize the form of the linens. Beautiful remains of original pigment, iconography, and facial details.