52. Ba Statue Head

This head, which would have had a solar disk inserted on its top, was attached to a winged body representing the ba of the deceased. An Egyptian concept, the ba was one of many dimensions of a person’s identity. Ba was akin to the soul or personality, and was commonly represented as a human-headed bird flying over the body of the deceased. Because the ba needed to recognize and return to the person to whom it belonged after death, it required the physiognomy and physical body to be preserved through a combination of mummification and art (for example painted coffins, masks, statues etc.). The Meroitic people adapted Egyptian eschatological beliefs to their own art forms and styles. Sometimes found wrapped in linen, they bear traces of pigments that made them look life-like. The statues were placed in tomb chapels or niches to signpost the ‘correct’ tomb for a wandering soul. Scan the brown QR code below to see how the ba would have looked like in its entirety.