Brooklyn Museum: Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art

Portrait of a Noblewoman. Egypt, attributed to the site of Fag el-Gamus in the Faiyum. Roman Period, circa A.D. 150. Encaustic (colored melted wax) on wood panel, 17 5/16 x 11 5/16 x 1/8 in. (44 x 28.7 x 0.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, 86.226.18

Roman Period mummy portraits were painted on wooden panels that were slipped into the mummy wrappings over the face of the deceased. Often, as here, the artists used melted wax as a medium, building up thick layers of pigment and highlighting the facial features with touches of white. Although painted in the naturalistic tradition of the Greco-Roman world, these images are idealized representations of the deceased, and they were used in a traditional Egyptian funerary context. This woman's dress, hairstyle, and jewelry show the influence of fashions at the Roman imperial court and reflect a desire to be understood as Romanized. However, there is no way to know whether her heritage was Egyptian, Mediterranean, or mixed.

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