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Faces of Immortality Egyptian Mummy Masks, Painted Portraits, and Canopic Jars in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology

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Faces of Immortality Egyptian Mummy Masks, Painted Portraits, and Canopic Jars in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology Faces of Immortality Egyptian Mummy Masks, Painted Portraits, and Canopic Jars in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology By Margaret Cool Root Kelsey Museum of Archaeology The University of Michigan Ann Arbor September 20, 1979- February 17, 1980 Edited and Designed by Unive rsity Publicat ions The University of Michigan Co ver: derail Cat. No. 24 ' © Co pyright 1979 by Kelsey Museum of Arch aeology, Th e Univer sity of Michig an Table of Contents v Preface v11 Acknowledgments ix Map: The Nile Valley x1 Chronological Table 1 Introduction 11 Catalogue A Note on Conventions 12 CanopicJars-Nos. 1-6 23 Face from a Wooden Coffin­ No. 7 24 Cartonnage Mummy Masks­ Nos. 8-10 28 Plaster Mummy Masks­ Nos. 11-28 52 Painted Portraits­ Nos. 29-37 61 Bibliography Preface receive due attention at the Kelsey, for in January of 1979 it was the museum's good fortune to welcome to its staff as assistant curator of collections, Margaret Cool Root, a specialist in ancient Near Eastern art. In a remarkably short time she has familiarized herself with the goals and collections of the museum and Three years ago the Kelsey has made her presence felt in many Museum of Archaeology launched a positive ways, not least in the prepa­ program of special exhibitions with a ration of this exhibition, which generous loan of Greek vases from presents and publishes for the first the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. time the Kelsey's important mummy Our purpose was to bring to Ann portraits and Canopic jars. We look Arbor objects that represent aspects forward with genuine enthusiasm of ancient art and civilization not to her future contributions to the illustrated by The University of research, teaching, and exhibits Michigan collections. In doing so, programs of the museum. we hoped to expand the resources As every curator knows, the available for research and teaching mounting of an exhibition depends programs of the University and also upon the collaborative efforts of to provide the community broader many individuals. To Ms. Root's exposure to the cultural achieve­ acknowledgment of the members of ments of the ancient world. the Kelsey staff I should like to add As the volume and intensity of my own sincere thanks. With hard the museum's research and cataloging work and good cheer they have seen activity increased, however, it the museum through nine special became ever more apparent that the exhibitions in the course of three holdings of the Kelsey Museum years. It hardly needs to be said that deserved a larger share of public without them this program could attention. With this in mind, in not be maintained. 1977 we planned an exhibition of Roman portraiture combining exam­ Elaine K. Gazda ples in the University collections Associate Curator of Collecrions and with others borrowed from major Acring Director American museums. Soon afterward, the exhibits program focused more exclusively on the unique resources at hand, including not only the museum's collections but also its archaeological expeditions. To date, three exhibitions have emphasized the field operations at Seleucia in Iraq, the Monastery of Saint Cather­ ine at Mount Sinai, and Carthage in Tunisia, while three others have highlighted aspects of the collections (Islamic Art, The Gods of Egypt in the Graeco-Roman Period, and Guardians of the Nile: Sculptures from Karanis in the Fayoum). Through them we have endeavored to share with the University and Ann Arbor commu­ nities the results of research carried out by University of Michigan schol­ ars and students during the past half certtury. The current exhibition, Faces of Immortality, focuses again on Egypt of the Graeco-Roman Period, an era represented in exceptional variety and abundance by the Kelsey collec­ tions. This material will henceforth V Acknowledgments Institute, University of Chicago, and Charles R. Krahmalkov, Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Languages, The University of Michigan . This exhibition owes a real debt to Elaine K. Gazda, associate curator of collections and acting director of the Kelsey Museum. She has ushered me through all the processes The idea of a special exhibition of involved in my first such the Roman Period mummy masks enterprise-while always taking care in the Kelsey Museum's collections to allow decisions to be mine. was suggested to me by Amy Rosen­ Finally, I should like to express my berg, assistant curator in sense of gratitude to John Griffiths conservation at the museum. Ms. Pedley, director of the Kelsey Rosenberg had studied, cleaned, and Museum, for the tremendous per­ repaired the plaster masks some time sonal and professional commitment ago. Her careful and interesting he has invested in the museum. The observations on technical aspects of vitality of his commitment has cre­ their manufacture and conservation ated an atmosphere in which sparked my own enthusiasm for exhibitions become rewarding and embarking on the project. The even­ cooperative intellectual ventures. tual decision to include additional material in the exhibition necessi­ Margaret Cool Root tated a great deal of work on her Assistant Curator of Collections part which was all performed under severe time limitations and for which 1 am extremely grateful. Preparations for the exhibition and catalogue were aided in countless ways by Jill Brinnon Bace, museum registrar, Kathleen Font, museum secretary, and Pamela Reister , museum typist. In addition to the assistance of generously offered expertise and energy ( without which this manuscript would never have reached the press), each has pro­ vided spontaneous warmth and support. The Kelsey Museum's "Faces of Immortality" fix you with timeless gaze on the pages to follow through the photographic wizardry of Fred Anderegg. In the gallery itself, our Faces will achieve new life through installations executed by David Slee. As this goes to press, his work on the exhibition is just beginning. For whatever is successful about its installation credit will be due his ingenuity and artistry. The assistance of Merrianne Timko, a graduate student in the Ph.D. Program in the History of Art at The University of Michigan, facil­ itated research on the Canopic texts. In this context we both grate­ fully acknowledge advice from Mark Ciccarello, Egyptologist for the Epi­ graphic Survey of the Oriental vii The Nile Valley THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA Canopus Alexandria LOWER EGYPT Karan is THE FAYOUM Balansourah • MIDDLE EGYPT THE RED SEA UPPER EGYPT Chronological Table* • Early Dynastic Period Roman Period 30 BC-AD 337 Dyn. I 3100-2890 BC Dyn. II 2890-2686 BC ]uUo-Claudians 27 BC-AD 14 [ Aug"''"' Old Kingdom Tiberius AD 14-37 Dyn. III 2686-2613 BC Gaius AD 37- 41 Dyn. IV 2613-2494 BC Claudius AD 41- 54 Dyn. V 2494-2345 BC Nero AD 54- 68 Dyn. VI 2345-2181 BC Flavians First Intermediate Period [ Vespasian AD 69- 79 Dyn. VII 218 1-2 17 3 BC Titus AD 79-81 Dyn. VIII 2173-2160 BC Domitian AD 81- 96 Dyn. IX-X 2160-2040 BC Nerva AD 96- 98 Trajan AD 98- 117 Middle Kingdom Hadrian AD117-138 Dyn. XI 2040-1991 BC Antonines Dyn. XII 1991-1786 BC [ Antonin"' Second Intermediate Period Pius AD 138- 161 Dyn. XIII-XVII 1786-1558 BC Marcus Aurelius AD 161- 180 New Kingdom Commodus AD 180- 192 Dyn. XVIII Severans (Tuthmoside) 1558-1303 BC Dyn. XIX [Septimius Severus AD 193- 211 (Ramesside) 1303-1200 BC Caracalla AD212-217 Dyn. XX Elagabalus (Ramesside) AD 218- 222 1200-1085 BC Severus Late Dynastic Period Alexander AD 222- 235 Dyn. XXI 1085-945 BC Aurelian AD 270- 275 Dyn. XXII 940-717 BC Diocletian AD 284- 305 Dyn. XXIII 817-730 BC Constantine Dyn. XXIV 730-715 BC the Great AD312-337 Dyn. XXV 760-656 BC Dyn. XXVI *The approximate Dynastic Period daces given ( Saite) 664-525 BC here are derived from W. K. Simpson in Dyn. XXVII Hallo and Simp son , The Ancienc Near Ease (Persian) 525-404 BC (1971) 299-301. Dyn. XXVIII 404-398 BC Dyn. XXIX 398-378 BC Dyn. XXX 378-341 BC Second Persian Domination 341-330 BC Ptolemaic Period 332-30 BC xi Introduction Egyptian Mummy Masks, Painted Portraits, and Canopic Jars Introduction elaboration upon Egyptian traditions. This is particularly unfortunate because, through the socio-political viscissitudes of Egyptian history down into the Roman Period, it was not least in the area of funerary ritual that Egyptian custom remained a vital and responsive force-main­ Scope and Purpose of the tained by the Egyptians themselves Exhibition and adopted ( if also adapted) by Greek and then Roman settlers. 1 We The Kelsey Museum of Archaeol­ may deplore the degeneration in ogy includes in its collections a series embalming techniques and burial of seventeen unpublished plaster practices which took place in the mummy masks dating to the period Roman Period; but the fact remains of Roman rule in Egypt. This rather that our extant Egyptian embalming large and representative sample of texts come down to us in copies the genre, taken together with our dating to this era. And Roman three complete Fayoum portraits and Period editions of the Book of the fragments of three more (plus three Dead include new elements and new instructive forgeries) presents a combinations of spells not found coherent corpus of works for exhibi­ earlier-suggesting that the literary tion as a group and publication in tradition continued to be a living a fully illustrated catalogue. As the one. Our own cultural bias tends to idea for such an exhibition and cata­ focus our scholarly inquiries on logue has germinated, its scope has aspects of progress and change. expanded. It now includes additional Aspects of continuity are equally objects from the Kelsey collections important, of course-and especially (also previously unpublished) which in the context of Egyptian cultural serve to link the nucleus of Roman dynamics.
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