664 – 343 B.C. Late Dynastic / Ptolemaic Egyptian. A beautiful wooden sarcophagus cover depicting an individual with a blue headpiece, golden skin, wide, black eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes with well-defined circular pupils, snub nose and small, closed mouth. Masks of this type rose to popularity in the Late Period of Ancient Egypt. Such masks likely had both a decorative and symbolic role as the burial of the dead in Ancient Egypt was an elaborate and ritualised process. Their wide variety of faces makes it likely that these masks were stylised and idealised portraits of the deceased individual. Sarcophagus masks served an elaborate and important role in Egyptian funerary ritual as they served to protect the deceased’s face and head in their travels to the underworld, and in some cases helped to elevate the deceased to a god-like status through adoptions of godly attributes such as blue or gold skin. Good condition; on a custom stand.Size: L:445mm / W:260mm ; 1.9kg; Provenance: Property of a London gentleman, formerly acquired in the US in the 1990s.