https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_mask
- A death mask is a wax or plaster cast made of a person’s face following death.
- Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits.
- In other cultures a death mask may be a clay or another artifact placed on the face of the deceased before burial rites. The best known of these are the masks used by ancient Egyptians as part of the mummification process, such as Tutankhamun’s mask.
- In the 10th century in some European countries, it was common for death masks to be used as part of the effigy (a sculpture or model of a person) of the deceased, displayed at state funerals.
- During the 18th and 19th centuries they were also used to permanently record the features of unknown corpses for purposes of identification. This function was later replaced by photography.
- In the cases of people whose faces were damaged by their death, it was common to take casts of their hands.
- When taken from a living subject, such a cast is called a life mask.
- Proponents of phrenology used both death masks and life masks for pseudoscientific purposes.
Phrenology – Phrenology meaning “mind”, is a pseudomedicine primarily focused on measurements of the human skull, based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functionsor modules
- In the late Middle Ages, a shift took place from sculpted masks to true death masks, made of wax or plaster. These masks were not interred with the deceased. Instead, they were used in funeral ceremonies and were later kept in libraries, museums, and universities. Death masks were taken not only of deceased royalty and nobility but also of eminent persons
- Science: Death masks were increasingly used by scientists from the late 18th century onwards to record variations in human physiognomy. The life mask was also increasingly common at this time, taken from living persons. Anthropologists used such masks to study physiognomic features in famous people and notorious criminals. Masks were also used to collect data on racial differences.
- Forensic science: Before the widespread availability of photography, the facial features of unidentified bodies were sometimes preserved by creating death masks so that relatives of the deceased could recognize them if they were seeking a missing person.
One mask, known as L’Inconnue de la Seine, recorded the face of an unidentified young woman who, around the age of sixteen, according to one man’s story, had been found drowned in the Seine River at Paris, France around the late 1880s. A morgue worker made a cast of her face, saying “Her beauty was breathtaking, and showed few signs of distress at the time of passing. So bewitching that I knew beauty as such must be preserved.” The cast was also compared to Mona Lisa, and other famous paintings and sculptures. In the following years, copies of the mask became a fashionable fixture in Parisian Bohemian society.
Death has been, and may always be, shrouded in a veil of intrigue, fear, curiosity, and calm. Humanity has always revered the passing of a person in myriad ways. But perhaps one of the more intriguing is the preparation and creation of death masks, a final viewing of the deceased. Death masks first gained notoriety in Egypt, the most recognizable belonging to King Tut. The Egyptians believed that the death mask, which would be buried with the individual, would allow the person’s spirit to find his/her body in the afterlife. In some African tribes it was believed that death masks could imbue the wearer with the power of the deceased. But in the Middle Ages, they became less of a spiritual commodity and more of a way of preserving the memory of the dead. Death masks were made for a range of famous and notable people and were put on display for many to see. And in a time before photography this could be as close to the real thing as you might get.
Recently, one of only two known death masks of Napoleon Bonaparte sold at auction at Bonhams’ Book, Map and Manuscript sale in London for roughly $260,000 (£169,250.) And as we celebrate his 244th birthday today, we thought we would dig up a few famous faces from their final moments.
Dante
Mary Queen of Scots
Napoleon Bonaparte
Plastered Skulls: Significance:
Jericho Skull
Archaeological significance
- The plastered skulls represent some of the earliest forms of burial practices. During the Neolithic period – New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 10,200 BC, – , the deceased were often buried under the floors of their homes.
- Sometimes the skull was removed, and its cavities filled with plaster and painted.
- In order to create more lifelike faces, shells were inset for eyes, and paint was used to represent facial features, hair, and moustaches.
- Some scholars believe that this burial practice represents an early form of ancestor worship, where the plastered skulls were used to commemorate and respect family ancestors.
- Other experts argue that the plastered skulls could be linked to the practice of head hunting, and used as trophies. Plastered skulls provide evidence about the earliest arts and religious practices in the ancient Near East.
Skull from Beisamoun