Authentic Egyptian Upper Sarcophagus Lid. Bronze Eyelids // Egypt 700-100 BCE

This is a Magnificent Polychrome Painted Upper Sarcophagus Lid. His serene expression is created with bronze eyelids and eyebrows, as well as black obsidian pupils with white alabaster eyes. He wears a striated multicolor tripartite headdress wig, a black false beard and lachrymoidal oushek necklace. His body is covered with an intricate detailed geometric motif and has a winged scarab symbol in the middle of his chest. The pigment is vibrant and beautifully preserved.

Ancient Egyptians believed it was of the utmost importance to preserve a body of the deceased, because the soul needed a place to reside after the death. Preservation of the body was done via mummification - a process involving the removal of internal organs that were placed in canopic jars, wrapping body in linen, and then embalming. Death masks like this example were created so that the soul could recognize the body and return to it. For this reason, death masks were made in the likeness of the deceased. Artisans used different materials.

Earlier masks were carved from wood. Later, cartonnage, a material made from papyrus or linen and soaked in plaster which was then applied to a wooden mold, was used. Royal death masks, perhaps the most famous being that of Tutankhamen, were made from precious metals. All death masks were intended to resemble the deceased subject; however, eyes were always slightly enlarged and lips presented in a subtle smile as we see in this example.

This superb example comes from the Late Period of Ancient Egypt, which refers to the last flowering of native Egyptian rulers after the Third Intermediate Period from the 26th Saite Dynasty into Persian conquests and ended with the conquest by Alexander the Great. It ran from 664 BCE until 323 BCE.