Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2016.

Owl Face

Artist Unknown

CultureEgyptian

DatePtolemaic-Roman Period, 3rd century B.C.-1st century A.D., 299 B.C.-99 A.D.

MediumMosaic glass

Dimensions1/4 × 1/4 × 1/16 in. (0.7 × 0.6 × 0.2 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Board of Trustees in honor of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. on his 75th birthday.

Object number84.174

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 116-1, Case 1

DescriptionThis stylized owl illustrates the immense technical skill of glassmakers during the Ptolemaic period in Egypt. Figural mosaics, such as this, were used as inlays on coffins, wooden shrines, and furniture. On coffins found in the fourth-century BCE tomb of Petosiris, the high priest of the god Thoth, mosaic canes similar to the Chrysler Museum’s were used as inlays for owl hieroglyphs.

Label TextEgypt Ankh Sign, Owl Face, Rearing Cobra, Wings, 3rd century B.C.-1st century A.D. Mosaic glass inlays Ankh Sign gift of Lucien Viola in honor of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., remaining objects gift of the Board of Trustees in honor of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., on his 75th birthday 84.167, 84.174, 84.173, and 84.171 a-b The patterns of mosaic inlays were formed with bundles of colored glass rods fused under heat to form the desired image in cross section. The fused bundles were then stretched, lengthening the fused rod or bar and at the same time uniformly reducing the size of the image contained in it. After cooling, multiple identical mosaic images were sliced from the rod or bar. Published ReferencesDiane C. Wright. (editor), _Glass: Masterworks from The Chrysler Museum of Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017), pg. 38-9.