Mummy portrait of a woman

Summary

The portrait of a woman is painted in encaustic on a thin wooden panel of which only the middle part is preserved. Her hair and eyebrows are rendered in black, her lips are red and her skin is painted in colours of white, brown and pink. Her garments are rendered in red and blue and her necklace consists of a red chain with a white pendant.

Description of object

The portrait of a woman is painted in encaustic on a thin wooden panel of which only the middle part is preserved. The woman is rendered on a blue background. Her hair is piled-up with a small braid running vertically along the central parting of the coiffure. As her hair, the eyebrows are rendered in black. The eyes are large and painted in a dark brown colour. Her nose is straight and her lips are full and rendered in red. The neck is long and her skin is painted in colours of white, brown and pink. The woman is wearing a red chiton and a blue mantle, the latter which is visible by her left shoulder. She is also wearing a necklace close to the neck, which consists of a red chain and a central white pendant.

Choice of methods

Technical imaging

• UV
• VIL
• IR

Bibliography

(1892) Katalog zu Theodor Graf’s Gallerie antiker Porträts aus hellenistischer Zeit, Leipzig, 32, no. 84a.

M. Mogensen (1930), Den ægyptiske Samling, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, København, A 594.

K. Parlasca (1966), Mümienporträts und verwandte Denkmäler , Deutsches Archäologisches Instituts, Wiesbaden, 246, no. 84, 268.

K. Parlasca (1980), Repertorio d’arte dell’Egitto greco-romano, a cura di A. Adriani, serie B, vol. III, Klaus Parlasca, Rittratti di mumie, tavole 121-158, numeri 497-674, Palermo 1980, 36, no. 552, Tav. 133 (3).

B. Borg (1996), Mumienporträts, Chronologie und kulturelle Kontext, Deutsches Archäologisches Instituts, Mainz, 47 (Rep. 552, 22).

M. Jørgensen (2001), Egypt III, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, 334-335, cat. no. 36.