Displaying items by tag: mask

Egypt put the famed golden burial mask of King Tutankhamun back on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo on Wednesday evening after the relic was repaired following a botched attempt to reattach the mask's beard with epoxy.

In August 2014, the beard was accidentally knocked off during work on the relic's lighting, after which workers hastily tried to reattach it with epoxy causing damage to the priceless artifact and stirring uproar among archaeologists.

A masterwork of Oceanic art has been added to the collection at the Toledo Museum of Art. Purchased at Christie’s in Paris on Dec. 3, 2015, the mask is one of four known distinguished examples from Saibai Island in the Torres Straits and has been heralded by scholars as the most notable. The Saibai Island Masks are among the rarest and most spectacular works of art created by the artists of the Torres Straits.

From October, Tutankhamun’s golden mask will be off display and his tomb closed to tourists. The boy king’s famous mask is being taken off display at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, to enable conservators to remove epoxy resin, applied to the mask in August 2014 as a way of re-securing its loose beard. Although the beard was not broken, as was widely reported at the time, and the epoxy has not discolored or harmed the mask, it is not the most suitable material for the job, and too much was applied, leaving dried traces visible to viewers.