Funerary Mask of Merit

This mask is made of cartonnage, layers of linen stiffened with plaster, something like an ancient papier-mâché, and then covered in gold leaf. Over the centuries the gold has tarnished to a reddish tone. The stripes of the wig are painted in Egyptian blue, the oldest known synthetic pigment, and the broad collar alternates bands of carnelian, turquoise and a dark blue paste made to look like lapis lazuli. Below it a vulture is painted in blue and red on a yellow ground.

The eyes were inlaid with alabaster and obsidian, and only one of the originals survives. The mask was already damaged when the tomb was opened in 1906. Whether that came from the way it sat in the coffin or from rough handling during the excavation is still debated. A restoration in 1967 did not hold for long, so conservators worked on it again in 2002, and in 2004 it was given a new padded mount. Its back, found detached and crushed flat, could not be rejoined and is kept separately.