cartonnage
thumb|upright|Rear of a cartonnage Anubis mask, Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic era thumb|upright|This mummy of an unknown girl has a cartonnage composed of layers of linen and plaster. The Walters Art Museum. Cartonnage or cartonage is a type of material used in ancient Egyptian funerary masks from the First Intermediate Period to the Roman era. It was made of layers of linen or papyrus covered with plaster. Some of the Fayum mummy portraits are also painted on panels made of cartonnage.
Article
5 sectionsContents
- Technique
- Materials
- Archeological significance
- References
- External links
thumb|upright|Rear of a cartonnage Anubis mask, Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic era thumb|upright|This mummy of an unknown girl has a cartonnage composed of layers of linen and plaster. The Walters Art Museum. Cartonnage or cartonage is a type of material used in ancient Egyptian funerary masks from the First Intermediate Period to the Roman era. It was made of layers of linen or papyrus covered with plaster. Some of the Fayum mummy portraits are also painted on panels made of cartonnage.
==Technique== thumb|upright|Cartonnage of Nespanetjerenpere, ca. 945–718 BCE. Linen or papyrus mixed with plaster, pigment, glass, lapis lazuli, 69 11/16 in. (177 cm). Brooklyn Museum, 35.1265. In a technique similar to papier-mâché, scraps of linen or papyrus were stuck together with plaster or resin and used to make mummy cases and masks. It could be molded to the shape of the body, forming a type of shell. After the material dried it could be painted or gilded. The shell could be decorated with geometric shapes, deities, and inscriptions. During the Ptolemaic era, the single shell method was altered to include four to six pieces of cartonnage. There would generally be a mask, pectoral, apron, and foot casing. In certain instances there were two additional pieces used to cover the ribcage and stomach.