The Mask

Egyptian tradition describes the embalming priest performing the rites in the character of Anubis, and tomb scenes show jackal-headed figures bending over the bier. One object survives that fits the idea: a jackal head built in two parts from clay, fired and painted, now in Hildesheim. Its catalogue records two small holes pierced at the eyes and two slits cut for the shoulders — which is to say the thing was shaped around a person. Whether this particular head was worn in an embalming room, carried in a procession, or made to be buried is not something the object can settle.