A ROMANO-EGYPTIAN PAINTED WOODEN MUMMY PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN

CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D., FROM THE FAYUM

Details

A ROMANO-EGYPTIAN PAINTED WOODEN MUMMY PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D., FROM THE FAYUM
In tempera on a rectangular panel with curved upper corners, with a grey background, the woman wearing pendant pearl earrings and a pinkish tunic with black clavi, with red lips, dark brown hair and eyes, with a pinkish-brown flesh colouring, remains of linen mummy wrappings on the reverse, some flaking, with wooden and perspex frame
Panel 10.3/8 x 6.5/8 in. (26.2 x 16.7 cm.)

Provenance

Theodor Graf Collection, Vienna: collection stamps on reverse and label numbered "37".
Kevorkian Foundation: sold Sotheby's, London, 8 December 1970, lot 30. Cleaned and conserved at the British Museum, London, in 1971.

Lot Essay

In 1887 the cemetery at er-Rubayat on the north-eastern side of the Fayum yielded up a number of funerary portraits, most of which were acquired by Theodor Graf (1840-1903). The burial ground was thought to have been used by the Graeco-Roman inhabitants of the nearby town of Philadelphia, although the nearer settlement of Mansura is now more likely. The majority of the el-Rubayat portraits were painted in tempera on oak panels. Cf. S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Ancient Egypt, The British Museum, London, 1997, p. 23 on Graf, pp. 86-104, nos. 76-97 for other er-Rubayat portraits, and pp. 166-167, no. 195 for the earring type.

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