Маски священных соколов с изображением царя из египетского собрания ГМИИ имени А. С. Пушкина

Вестник древней истории. 2023. Т. 83. № 1. С. 164–184.

Ladynin I. A.

The article contains a publication and a tentative interpretation of a group of artifacts from the Egyptian collection of the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (ГМИИ I.1a.5001, 4688, 4687, 4689, 4691, 4690–5005). Those are the masks placed on the mummies of sacred falcons and representing an Egyptian king. No analogies to them are known. The analysis shows that the masks’ images correspond to the standard of royal iconography used in the 3rd and the 4th centuries B.C. and that they can be attributed with enough certainty to Ptolemy II Philadelphus (282–246 B.C.). The masks belonged initially to the collection of Vladimir Golenischev, their provenance and the circumstances of their acquisition are unknown but one can suggest they originate from the necropolis of sacred falcons at North Saqqara. They could have been in use there in the reign of Ptolemy II, intended to stress the incorporation of divinity in him and his sacral legitimacy.

Keywords: Ancient Egypt, маски ритуальные, The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, ГМИИ им. А.С. Пушкина, В. С. Голенищев, Golenishchev Vladimir, древний Египет, mask, Royal cult, Horus, царский культ, Хор