Egyptian wood funerary mask, Late Period, Circa 663-332 BC.

An impressive and skillfully carved upper section of a sarcophagus lid depicting the face of a white-skinned man, with a soft tripartite wig, eyes and eyebrows inlaid with bronze and limestone, painted black. The ears, according to Egyptian convention, appear larger than in real life, and have been designed in such a way that they are above the tripartite headdress. The deceased appears beardless, but the absence of this attribute does not necessarily reflect a gender distinction, as anthropoid sarcophagi of the period inscribed for men or women often lack a false beard.

In the course of the Late Period (after 664 BC), the use of wood for statuary and sarcophagi regained popularity, especially during the course of the 30th Dynasty (380-342 BC) and the early Ptolemaic Period. The finest such coffin assemblage was discovered in the last century in the Tomb of Petosiris, a magnificently decorated temple-like tomb in Middle Egypt near Ashmumein in Tuna el-Gebel, where excavators uncovered a multiple burial in an underground chamber.
The ancient Egyptians believed that it was of utmost importance to preserve the body of the deceased, because the soul needed a place to reside after death. Coffin lids like the one in this example were created so that the soul could recognise the body and return to it. For this reason, these lids and the death masks that were placed underneath were made in the likeness of the deceased.