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Plaster Cast of a Face
Plaster cast of a male face, probably representing a Nubian/African.
Plaster cast of a male face, which appears to have been taken from a person. The face is broad and flat with a short but broad nose and high cheek bones all of which suggest that the person was of Black African descent. It is likely that a wax layer was placed on the person's face in order to create a mould; plaster was then poured into the mould and was smoothed off at the rear to produce a realistic representation of the person's features. The mouth seems to have been added later and is formed from a simple cut into the plaster. It is not clear whether the mask was taken during the man's lifetime, or after death. Such objects are not common due the the fragile nature of the plaster and also the fact that these images were most likely used by a sculptor as a model and so later disgarded. There are other examples from the Amarna Period that were found in an abandoned sculptor's workshop in the capital city. However, many such objects seem to be more stylised and so are unlikely to represent a true image of a person. There are exceptions in addition to the Fitzwilliam Museum's plaster head. Such images of Black Africans are important because they show that many Egyptians in Ancient Egypt were what we today would call Black.
Depth: 7.7 cm
Length: 20 cm
Width: 15.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1943) by Gayer-Anderson, R. G. (Major)
Amarna period
Circa
-1352
BCE
-
Circa
-1336
BCE
Accession number: E.GA.5503.1943
Primary reference Number: 59178
Oldadmincategory: SU
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Antiquities
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Plaster Cast of a Face" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/59178 Accessed: 2024-11-15 13:51:14
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/59178
|title=Plaster Cast of a Face
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-15 13:51:14|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-59178
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant32/E_GA_5503_1943.jpg"
alt="Plaster Cast of a Face"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Plaster Cast of a Face</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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