Face cover

This face cover is made up of thin, highly refined gold leaves. Other gold leaves are also used to cover the eyes and mouth of the deceased. The simple style of chased, repoussé and engraved linear designs that resemble leaf veins is typical of East Java, and is similar to beaten goldwork from Nias and Maluku islands. These funerary objects were perhaps used out of religious regard for the ancestors, indicators of status, or fear of the spirits of the dead. Such practices were generally abandoned in around the 7th to 10th centuries when cremation was preferred due to the adoption of Indic ideals.

See related items

A set of face covers

Pair of lacquer sutra covers

Ornament from a cover of a linga

Slipper face