Face from an Anthropoid Coffin
1075–656 B.C.E.
1 of 6
Object Label
The rectangular hole in the chin of this carefully modeled face once held a false beard, which identified the owner of the coffin with Osiris, the god of the afterlife. The incisions housed inlaid eyebrows, cosmetic lines, and eyes of glass or stones. The flat back of the face attached with pegs to a separately carved anthropoid coffin.
Although determining a date is difficult without the coffin or inscriptions, stylistic details—the softly drilled corners of the mouth, the hint of a smile, the substantial, straight nose, and the lack of paint—suggest the object was made late in the Third Intermediate Period.
Although determining a date is difficult without the coffin or inscriptions, stylistic details—the softly drilled corners of the mouth, the hint of a smile, the substantial, straight nose, and the lack of paint—suggest the object was made late in the Third Intermediate Period.
Caption
Face from an Anthropoid Coffin, 1075–656 B.C.E.. Wood, 14 2/5 x 6 3/10 x 10 7/10 in. (36.6 x 16 x 27.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.2041.8E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Title
Face from an Anthropoid Coffin
Date
1075–656 B.C.E.
Period
Third Intermediate Period (probably)
Medium
Wood
Classification
Dimensions
14 2/5 x 6 3/10 x 10 7/10 in. (36.6 x 16 x 27.2 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
37.2041.8E
Frequent Art Questions
Tell me more.
This beard was one typically worn by the dead in their effort to be more like Osiris, the king of the Afterlife.The face next to it also came from a coffin. The beard would have been attached to a face like this as part of a coffin that held the body of the deceased.The recessed eye and brow areas suggest that at one point they were inlaid with glass or stones.
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