IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 59178 accession number: E.GA.5503.1943 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Tuesday 25 February 2020 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: 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. object type: Plaster cast of a male face, probably representing a Nubian/African. title: model LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Antiquities STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/59178 TECHNIQUES ---------- cast (process) CATEGORIES ------ category: manufacturing DATING ------ creation date: 1352 - 1336 creation date earliest: 1352 creation date latest: 1336 culture: Amarna period DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Depth units: cm value: 7.7 dimension: Length units: cm value: 20 dimension: Width units: cm value: 15.2 IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant32/E_GA_5503_1943.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 632 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant32/mid_E_GA_5503_1943.jpg height: 601 pixels width: 500 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant32/E_GA_5503_1943.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 632 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant32/preview_E_GA_5503_1943.jpg height: 301 pixels width: 250 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant5/E_GA_5503_1943_282_29.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 570 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant5/mid_E_GA_5503_1943_282_29.jpg height: 667 pixels width: 500 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant5/E_GA_5503_1943_282_29.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 570 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant5/preview_E_GA_5503_1943_282_29.jpg height: 333 pixels width: 250 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/625/365/large_E_GA_5503_1943_200705_mfj22_dc1.jpg height: 1231 pixels width: 1024 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/625/365/mid_E_GA_5503_1943_200705_mfj22_dc1.jpg height: 601 pixels width: 500 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/625/365/E_GA_5503_1943_200705_mfj22_dc1.jpg height: 2845 pixels width: 2366 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/625/365/preview_E_GA_5503_1943_200705_mfj22_dc1.jpg height: 301 pixels width: 250 pixels surrogate: zoom format: pyramid tiff location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/625/365/E_GA_5503_1943_200705_mfj22_dc1.ptif height: 2845 pixels width: 2366 pixels