Antiquities Exhibits

This morning while I was researching a Fayum portrait of a priest of Serapis in the collections of the British Museum, I came across this encaustic portrait of what appears to be just a common Romano-Egyptian.  Although his face is painted with skill, he wears no adornments or displays even a hint of status from his clothing.  Because of the quality of the portrait, he must have been somewhat successful in whatever occupation he practiced, whether it was that of a tradesman or even a legionary.   The British Museum points out that his mummy, found in the necropolis of Hawara, was simply wrapped in coarse linen.  His closely cropped hair is similar to Roman court portraiture of the Trajanic period and he is said to confront the viewer directly in the Roman manner. The portrait appears to be an example of what became known during Trajan's rule as the portrait of the decennial, an image seemingly devoid of emotion with firm, calm features emanating authority and di...

 Linen Shroud of a Woman Wearing a Fringed Tunic, 170–200 CE, said to be from Fayum at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This round-faced Romano-Egyptian woman wears a fine tunic with narrow clavi (stripes) and a mantle draped over her arms.  She must have been extremely wealthy as she wears a great deal of jewelry including earrings, three necklaces, six twisted gold bracelets, and three rings.  Curators are surprised by what appears to be red socks on her feet as there has been no recovery of socks in the archaeological record from this period. She apparently still practices Egyptian religion as she is flanked on either side by Egyptian deities including Anubis.  The Met curators point out that she seems to step forward from a light gray rectangle. This form could be interpreted as a doorway, a late reminiscence of the so-called False Doors of pharaonic Egypt, elaborate niches through which the dead were believed to communicate with the living.  Imag...

   Neferhotep’s shroud bears a Roman-style portrait. Neferhotep  avoided the cost of the typical wooden panel often used for Roman period mummy masks by instructing the artists to paint directly on the shroud. In addition, Neferhotep’s artists used less-expensive tempera rather than encaustic paint. When Neferhotep’s shroud was excavated by the French archaeologist Bernard Bruyère in 1948, parts of it were missing and were replaced by painted patches in a restoration done about 1970. The shroud entered the Brooklyn Museum’s collection in 1975. Image: Elaborately Painted Shroud of Neferhotep, Son of Herrotiou, 100-225 CE, Romano-Egyptian at the Brooklyn Museum courtesy of the museum.