Anubis mask

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anubis mask
Anubis mask.JPG
material volume
Dimensions H. 49 cm; W. 27 cm; T. 40 cm;
origin unknown
time Late period , 26th dynasty to 30th dynasty , 6th to 4th centuries BC Chr.
place Hildesheim , Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum , PM 1585

The Anubis mask is assigned to the late period (26th to 30th dynasty, 6th to 4th century BC). It belongs to the Egyptian collection of the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim . It is the world's only surviving complete copy of this type of mask.

origin

The location of the Anubis mask is unknown. It was acquired by Wilhelm Pelizaeus at the end of 1910 , who sent it to Hildesheim at the beginning of the following year.

Meaning and representation

The god Anubis , Inpu in Egyptian, was next to the god Osiris an important god of the dead in ancient Egypt . In the burial and embalming ritual a funeral priest played the role of Anubis. He was able to transform himself into the god by wearing an Anubis mask. This phenomenon first appeared to Anubis in the time of Thutmose III. - Amenophis II. , I.e. in the 15th century BC To occur. The mask depicts the head of the mummification and death god Anubis in a stylized form, who is usually depicted in a mixed form of a human body and a jackal or canid head . The black of the animal's fur is still clearly recognizable, which does not correspond to the natural coloring of the Anubis animal, but rather symbolically indicates the area of ​​death on the one hand, and that of persistence in eternity on the other. The mask consists of two parts; the massive snout and eye area is shaped for itself and provided with a pierced pin. This is inserted through a hole in the mask and can be held in place with a piece of wood that is pushed through the hole in the pin. The two slits that allowed the priest of the dead to see can clearly be seen below the canid snout. There are recesses for the shoulders on both sides so that the mask fits more securely. The painted lines around the head suggest a strand of wig. It unites animals and humans in an aesthetically acceptable way.

Size, state of preservation and function

The mask is made of baked and painted clay, is 49 cm high and weighs around 8 kg. The colors have faded a lot today. Practical tests have shown that the function designation “mask” could actually apply to this object. The weight and fragility of the material, however, speak against practical use and raise the question of whether it could be a model after all. As a model, it could have served as a template for the production of masks from light, portable material such as painted canvas or cardboard.

literature

  • Günther Roeder , Albert Ippel : The monuments of the Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim. Curtius, Berlin 1921, p. 23 f. and 127 f.
  • Hans Kayser : The Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim . Cram, de Gruyter, Hamburg 1966, p. 31 and 70 (Figure 34. Clay mask of a funeral priest in the shape of the dog's head of the god Anubis).
  • Hans Kayser: The Egyptian antiquities in the Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1973, ISBN 3-8067-8002-1 , p. 103 (jackal head mask for a priest) and Fig. 74 (priest mask).
  • Bettina Schmitz : Everyday Life and Celebration in Ancient Egypt . In: Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim (=  museum ). Westermann, December 1979, ISSN  0341-8634 , p. 91–92 with ill .
  • Peter Pamminger: Anubis mask . In: Arne Eggebrecht (ed.): Egypt's rise to world power . von Zabern, Mainz 1987, ISBN 3-8053-0964-3 , p. 312–313 (catalog manual for the exhibition in the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim August 3 - November 29, 1987).
  • Bettina Schmitz: Anubis mask for a priest of the dead . In: Arne Eggebrecht (Hrsg.): Search for immortality. Cult of the dead and belief in the afterlife in ancient Egypt . von Zabern, Mainz 1990, ISBN 3-8053-1224-5 , p. 34–35 (catalog manual).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim: Inventory number PM 1585