Mummy Portrait of a Man

Mummy Portrait of a Man

Mummy Portrait of a Man, c. 140-60 CE, Roman, Fayum: Hawara, wax on lime wood, 42.5 x 22.2 x 0.4 cm, London, The British Museum.

Museum Description: “Portrait, perhaps of a priest, in encaustic on limewood: the panel is cracked through the right side from the upper edge to the subject's proper left ear. A row of four nail holes indicative of reuse, or perhaps of attachment to a frame, runs across the panel 6.3 cm below the upper edge, and a row of three holes 9-9.5 cm above the lower edge. The background is a greenish cream.

The subject, a man of mature years, wears a creamy-white tunic with violet/pink clavus on the proper right shoulder. A mantle with brownish folds with cream highlights is worn over the proper left shoulder and around the back of the neck, but does not appear on the other side. The upper edge of the tunic and the central fold below the neck is rather clumsily drawn with a thick cream line. A shoulder seam appears as diagonal hatching across the clavus, lined up with the corner of the neck of the tunic.

In his hair the subject wears a narrow fillet, with a central gold star with seven points laid on a purple ground. The rest of the fillet is grey with cream highlights, perhaps representing an original in silver.

Below the fillet the dark brown hair falls in three locks on the brow in an arrangement typical of individuals associated with the cult of Sarapis. The hair is curly and even, the outer strands are tidily arranged. The beard and moustache are straight. The flesh is sunburned, with pink and cream highlights. The close-set, light brown eyes stare at the viewer; the impression of a severe intensity is heightened by the narrow down-turned mouth. The arched eyebrows are rendered with diagonal strokes.”

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA74714

The British Museum. EA74714 .