Funerary Portraits from Roman Egypt: Facing Forward

Portrait of a woman (ultraviolet image at left, and original portrait at right), Roman Egypt, probably from er-Rubayat, c. 200 CE. Tempera on sycamore fig panel. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1939.111. Mummy Portrait of a Woman with Earrings Mummy Portrait of a Woman with Earrings This highly naturalistic mummy portrait depicts a young woman with deep brown eyes, arched brows, and a long pointed nose. Her dark hair is pulled back with only a row of small curls framing her forehead. Her jewelry is simple: small gold double-hooped earrings, each with a pendant pearl. She wears a deep purple tunic with green shoulder bands and maroon clasps all over a white undergarment, visible only at the neckline. Mummy Mask of a Man Mummy Mask of a Man Mummy Portrait of a Woman Mummy Portrait of a Woman Fragmentary Mummy Portrait of a Woman Fragmentary Mummy Portrait of a Woman Although difficult to characterize because of its fragmentary nature, the portrait depicts a young woman. The woman looks forward with large brown eyes that are delicately rimmed with thick lashes. The figure's black-brown hair is parted in the center and pulled back from her face with visible rows of herring-bone pattern painted in thick, dark pigment to suggest plaited rows. Fragments of a Mummy Portrait of a Man Fragments of a Mummy Portrait of a Man Mummy portrait of a bearded man wearing a white tunic. His face is highly detailed, with large brown eyes and a light beard with moustache. His hair is dark and holds the remains of a gold diadem. His tunic is white, with a navy blue vertical stripe over his right shoulder. There is a red band with gold studs running from behind the right side of hi