Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/385

Rh that this mask also was intended to be fastened upon a statue. Herr Benndorf, on the other hand, found nothing on the inside of the masks to show they had ever been in contact with a hard body. They are in the Gaulish style, and belong to a period later than Caracalla (ob. 217 ).

In 1844 two life-sized masks of sheet iron plated with thin copper were found with a skeleton and a number of other objects in a Gallo-Roman grave near Neuvy Pailloux (Indre). It is not mentioned that either was found actually on the face of the skeleton. Both masks are in a fragmentary condition, but the modelling is of great truth to nature, and so skilfully wrought, that in the opinion of M. de Longpérier few modern artists could do better. The mouth and eyes are half closed, which gives an aspect of death. The sepulchral chamber in which the skeleton was found measured about 16 feet by 15 feet 3 inches, and was entered by a passage 34 feet long. The interior walls were decorated with mural painting in the style of Pompeii, and the grave cannot be older than the second century.

In the Museum at Evreux there is a much damaged bronze mask found in a basilica in what was anciently the forum of Evreux. Herr Benndorf has some doubt whether it belongs to the sepulchral class of masks. It represents a bearded face with the outline of the eyes, nostrils, and mouth cut through the metal sheet. The execution is very rude.

As the Roman Empire included the Iberian peninsula, it is not surprising that a terra-cotta mask was brought to light in 1874 in excavating a Roman necropolis near Alcacer do Sol, the ancient Salacia. It represents a youthful face without showing the hair or ears, and is certainly a portrait, probably that of a woman. In all respects the modelling is very carefully executed. The surface of the terra-cotta was