Mummy Portrait of a Bearded Man

A.D. 220–235

Medium

Encaustic on cedar of Lebanon wood panel

Dimensions

47.5 × 19 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-135322

The funerary portrait of this Romano-Egyptian bearded man is broken on both sides; the top and bottom edges are original. Portraits such as this were placed into funerary shrouds over the faces of the dead as part of the burial process. It was painted in encaustic (wax) pigment on a cedar of Lebanon wood panel; an import to Egypt, this type of wood was used in the construction of elite funerary and devotional equipment. Though in relatively poor condition, the portrait retains its masterful technique. The man is clothed in the traditional white funerary tunic; a tiny bit of purple pigment perhaps from a *clavus* (woven stripe) remains at the far right of the broken panel. To suggest the interplay of light and shadow the artist applied white highlights against darker pigments across the neck and down the bridge of the nose. This manner of application lends a sense of three-dimensionality and movement to the slight three-quarter angle of the head. The background is an even greyish white; it has been applied over a carbon black ground covering the surface of the wood. Pigments used include lead white mixed with Egyptian Blue for the tunic (Egyptian Blue also appears in the background…