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Mask of the Week

Since I went to look at the mummies this week, it seems a good time to post the mummy mask of Satdjehuty:

It’s from the Eighteenth Dynasty, which is apparently ‘about 1550-1295 BC’. I’m not sure how to post permalinks to the BM collections, but if you go to their Compass site and search for Satdjehuty, you can see details and other views.

It probably originally consisted of at least a coffin, the mummy, a heart scarab, this mummy mask and a quantity of linen. Only the mask and linen are in the British Museum.

We learn from the mass of linen that it was given to Satdjehuty ‘in the favour of the god’s wife, king’s wife, and king’s mother Ahmose-Nefertari’. Ahmose-Nefertari was the wife of Ahmose I (1550-1525 BC), the first king of the Dynasty, and the mother of Amenhotep I (1525-1504 BC), with whom she subsequently became associated as local deities. That Satdjehuty should have received such an honour shows she was a lady of the highest rank.

The winged head-dress on this mask is a feature found on funerary headpieces and coffins in the Second Intermediate Period (about 1750-1650 BC), and perhaps denotes protection of the deceased by a deity.

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