Ancient Egyptian female mummy head, New Kingdom, 18th Dinasty, 1000 BC
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This mummy head is a very rare and fine specimen of a female, with delicate features and retains virtually all surfaces of skin, dentition and hair. Even the linen wrappings are partially held in place (especially on the hair). The nostrils through which the brain would be removed are also perfectly visible. One of the most important elements is that it keeps the cervical vertebra in perfect condition, which proves that the separation of the body was done with great care.
This mummy head was a gift offered to the Danish doctor Christian Fenger for his work curing children of eye diseases in Cairo during 1875 and 1876. Fenger contracted a lung disease so he had to go to the United States for treatment and on his departure the Egyptian government thanked him for his work by giving him two mummies as gifts. Due to logistical problems, Fenger could not take the two complete mummies so he decided to separate the heads from the bodies, a fact that can be seen in the vertebra of the neck that is perfectly separated from the body.
The 18th Egyptian dynasty of the New Empire is one of the most valued from an art-historical point of view, as it is one of the dynasties that introduced a great change in the political and religious structure of Ancient Egypt due to the reforms promoted by the pharaoh Akhenaten.
