Funerary mask of a woman

The artisan’s desire for realism is evident everywhere: the eyebrows, the eyelashes, particularly the creases around the corners of the mouth and below the chin (features showing the advanced age of the woman). Large eyes, “astonished”, with a fixed stare.

The enormous eyes with their fixed gaze and the schematized details (eyebrows, eyelashes, mouth) are characteristic of art in the last days of antiquity.

E. Brouscari