Mask and Foot Cover of "Corn Mummy"
Unknown Artist
400–250 B.C.
Medium
Gilded wax on a reconstructed body of ancient linen
Dimensions
H. 68 cm (26 3/4 in.); W. 14.4 cm (5 11/16 in.); D. 11.8 cm (4 5/8 in.)
Classification
Mask, foot cover, Osiride figure
Period
Ptolemaic Period
Department
Egyptian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Goddard DuBois, 1942 (42.6.1b, d–f), 1944 (44.6.1)
Accession Number
44.6.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the mystical world of ancient Egyptian rituals with the *Mask and Foot Cover ofCorn Mummy"*, a artifact from 400–250 B.C. during the Late Period transitioning into the Ptolemaic. Crafted by an unknown artist, this piece—housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Art department—was part of a "corn mummy," a symbolic figure representing the god Osiris. These effigies, made from-packed linen wrapped in the shape of a mummified body, were central to fertility festivals like the Khoiak, where sprouting grains evoked Osiris's resurrection and the Nile's life-giving floods. The mask and fo...