Pharao's Head

This profile of a pharaoh’s face and neck was crafted in faience with inlaid glass in the eyes, eyebrows, and jawline groove (for a cord used to attach a beard), but has lost the glass from the eyebrows and jawline. It is thought to have been part of a composite work comprised of separately made components-a crown, beard, body, and so on-composed onto a ground of plaster and other material. Pharaohs were associated with the god Horus, son of the sun god, during their lifetimes, and with Osiris, chief god of the underworld, after death. Pharaohs also personified the order of the cosmos, so it is apt that the present work shows the hint of a mystic smile hovering on the pharaoh’s lips.

Inlay of a Pharaoh's Head