The Wyvern Collection’s Egyptian Mummy Mask in Context: Dr Mykola Tarasenko
On Monday 9 February 2026 we were joined by Dr Mykola Tarasenko who presented his recent research on an Egyptian Mummy mask in the Wyvern Collection.
In this lecture, Tarasenko examined a cartonnage mummy mask in the collection (inv. 2281). By analysing the iconography and inscriptions, he was able to place the object within a broader comparative context, drawing on similar examples from museums and private collections worldwide. This analysis allowed him to date the mask’s production to the Roman period, in the 1st century AD, and to localise it to a workshop in Meir, the modern name of a village in Asyut Prefecture (Middle Egypt). Moreover, he noted that the traditional Egyptian character of the iconography, suggests that the owner was of Egyptian descent.
During his presentation, Tarasenko highlighted that the Wyvern mask is one of only two surviving examples bearing inscriptions in both hieroglyphic and demotic scripts, the other being housed today in the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung VÄGM in Berlin (1989/111). The Wyvern mask is therefore a highly significant survival: as Tarasenko demonstrated, it is exceptional in both its state of preservation and quality of craftsmanship and is unquestionably a prime example of a Roman-period mummy mask from the Meir workshop.
About the Speaker:
Dr Mykola Tarasenko is an Egyptologist specialising in the study of ancient Egyptian funerary literature and art, especially the Book of the Dead. He is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and a Fellow of Trinity College. Additionally, he serves as a Leading Researcher and Head of the Centre of Egyptology at the A. Yu. Krymskyi Institute of Oriental Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.