Coffin lid

By Jacqueline Engel

This coffin lid with its gilded mask depicts a young male.

The chiton is adomed with two purple stripes, while the mantle is decorated with a purple swastika.

This symbol in pre-Christian world symbolised fertility and the concept of birth and rebirth.

The face is softly modelled with short cropped hair, a low cut short beard, and a moustache.

This young man perhaps died in the first quarter of the 3rd century AD.

Provenance unknown.

Roman Periód, 3rd century AD

Gilded wood. Paint Cloth

Hurgada Museum