<P> In some European countries, it was common for death masks to be used as part of the effigy of the deceased, displayed at state funerals; the coffin portrait was an alternative . Mourning portraits were also painted, showing the subject lying in repose . During the 18th and 19th centuries masks were also used to permanently record the features of unknown corpses for purposes of identification . This function was later replaced by post-mortem photography . </P> <P> In the cases of people whose faces were damaged by their death, it was common to take casts of their hands . An example of this occurred in the case of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, the Canadian statesman whose face was shattered by the bullet which assassinated him in 1868 . </P> <P> When taken from a living subject, such a cast is called a life mask . Proponents of phrenology used both death masks and life masks for pseudoscientific purposes . </P> <P> Masks of deceased persons are part of traditions in many countries . The most important process of the funeral ceremony in ancient Egypt was the mummification of the body, which, after prayers and consecration, was put into a sarcophagus enameled and decorated with gold and gems . A special element of the rite was a sculpted mask, put on the face of the deceased . This mask was believed to strengthen the spirit of the mummy and guard the soul from evil spirits on its way to the afterworld . The best known mask is Tutankhamun's mask . Made of gold and gems, the mask conveys the highly stylized features of the ancient ruler . Such masks were not, however, made from casts of the features; rather, the mummification process itself preserved the features of the deceased . </P>

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