Ancient gold mask from a private collection
The mask exhibits undeniable affinities with the famous gold masks that have been found by Heinrich Schliemann in the shaft graves of the acropolis circle at Mycenae (Argolis, Greece, sixtheenth century B.C.) in 1876 and that are kept in the National Museum at Athens. These connections have already been pointed out by both Pierre Demargne and Ophélie de Peretti in their reviews. In addition to the general oval shape, to the very similar dimensions and to the representation of the same parts of the human face, one specific detail has to be observed, namely the presence of two groups of two small holes in the ears, close to the edge of the gold sheet. Those holes were made, together with the mask or at the latest during the burial ceremony, for fastening a thread the function of which was to secure the mask on the face of the deceased in order to protect him in the afterworld. Similar holes are found on the Mycenae gold masks (see especially the two groups of two holes between the ears and the edge of the sheet on gold mask no 253 from the acropolis grave circle [G. KARO, Die Schachtgräber von Mykenai, Munich, 1930-1933, no 253], as well as on the gold mask from grave Gamma in grave circle B outside the citadel at Mycenae [G.E. MYLONAS, O tafikos kiklos B ton Mikinon, Athens, 1972-1973 (in Greek), pl. 60a].
Besides such affinities, significant differences can be observed as well.
The oblique parallel strokes that seem to represent a means of sewing the eyelids in order to close the eyes cannot be seen on the Mycenae gold masks -and to my knowledge on any other funerary gold mask of Greco-Roman times. The more numerous and closer strokes that are perpendicular to the line of separation of the eyelids on the masks no 253 and 254 from shaft grave IV in the acropolis circle and on the mask from grave circle B are rather different: they very clearly reproduce the eyelashes.
The outline of the ears on the present specimen is also without equivalent on the gold masks from Mycenae. It reminds at first sight the outline of the so-called “figure-of-eight shield”, a typical Mycenaean motif, that would have been drawn uncompletely. This could confirm that the object belongs to the early Mycenaean production of the “shaft grave period” (XVIth century). A closer examination, however, reveals that the outline of the ears is made of two semi-circles that remain independent though adjoining each other, whereas the “figure-of-eight shield” motif has a uniform structure.
The large ogee arch motif in horizontal position on the forehead makes a further difference, since it doesn't appear on any of the gold masks from Mycenae, that exhibit just the eyebrows instead.
Such an arch above the eyebrows extending on the whole width of the face has in fact counterparts on funerary gold masks excavated in the necropolis at Sindos in Macedonia, in tombs dating from the late archaic period, about 510 BC (see Sindos. Catalogue of the exhibition, Museum of Thessaloniki, 1985 [in Greek], no 282, p. 174-175 and no 322, p. 196-197). These masks, like other ones in the Stathatos collection in Athens (P. AMANDRY, Collection Hélène Stathatos I, Les jijoux antiques, Strasbourg, 1953) and in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore (Jewelry. Ancient to Modern, New York, 1979, no 235), coming from northern Greece too, and like other ones from the necropolis at Trebenishte in Illyria, all of the same date, show a flat nose that is very similar to the nose of the present gold mask and that is quite clearly different from the thinner and prominent nose on the Mycenaean gold masks. Together with the ogee arch motif on the forehead, this detail seems to me a good reason to consider an archaic date and a northern Greek origin highly possible for the present gold object, in contradiction with Ophélie de Peretti's opinion that “le masque étudié ici ne peut en aucun cas être rapproché des masques archaïques…”
The nose of those archaic masks from northern Greece, it has to be stressed, is frequently made apart and found covering a triangular cutting in the center of the gold sheet through which the nose protrudes. This is not an absolute feature, however. A provenance from the northern part of the Aegean appears quite plausible when considering the very high number of gold jewellery items that have been illegally excavated from those northern regions in the period between the two world wars and in the years following the second world war.
It is regrettable that we don't have scientific analyses of the Mycenaean gold masks at disposal, that could be compared with the analysis of the present mask. It should be kept in mind, however, that such analyses, even if available, would not be of decisive help. The composition of ancient gold is much varying in the successive periods of greco-roman times and it is always difficult in particular to decide whether the amount of silver in the material corresponds to the natural composition -and thus to a specific source of supply- or if it has been added intentionally in order to provide the material with specific qualities in connection with the techniques of shaping the objects. For the present mask at least, the most significant result of the analysis is the relatively high proportion of copper.
However that may be, the mask presented here is an extremely rare document and it is quite unique outside museums and public collections. Its value is very high, because of that extreme rarity, but also because of the high quality of its manufacture and its excellent state of preservation. A value of twenty four millions of Euros is consequently a fair estimate.
Robert LAFFINEUR
Professor of Greek archaeology
at the University of Liège
20 january 2005
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