This man's intent, direct gaze and parted lips make him seem restive. The remarkably free brushwork builds up forms without reliance on clean contours. The portrait has striking atmospheric qualities, such as the strands of seeminly damp hair that cling to the man's brow.
The gilding of the wreath and background was added after the panel had been inserted into the mummy wrapping.
For more on the technique used to create this portrait, see 09.181.1.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Portrait of a thin-faced man
Period:Roman Period
Date:A.D. 140–170
Geography:From Egypt
Medium:Encaustic on limewood with gold leaf
Dimensions:H. 42.3 × W. 18.7 cm (16 5/8 × 7 3/8 in.)
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1909
Object Number:09.181.3
Purchased from Maurice Nahman in Cairo, 1909
Ricci, Seymour de 1908. "Lettres de Seymour de Ricci." In Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 52, p. 802, fig. 3.
Lythgoe, Albert M. 1910. "Græco–Egyptian Portraits." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 5, no. 3 (March), p. 70.
Strelkov, A. 1936. Faiumskii Portret. Moscow, p. 84, fig. 5.
Parlasca, Klaus 1966. Mumienporträts und verwandte Denkmäler. Wiesbaden: Steiner, p. 41 (no. 172), p. 42 (no. 177), Pl. 27 [4].
Berger, Jacques-Edouard and René Creux 1977. L'oeil & l'éternité: portraits romains d'Egypte. Paudeux, p. 216.
Parlasca, Klaus 1977. Ritratti di Mummie, Ser B- II. Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto Greco-Romano, Palermo: Fondazione Mormino, no. 311.
Lilyquist, Christine, Peter F. Dorman, and Edna R. Russmann 1983. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 41, no. 3 (Winter), New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p.55, fig. 55 (ERR).
Dorman, Peter F., Prudence Harper, and Holly Pittman 1987. Egypt and the Ancient Near East. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 87.
Doxiades, Euphrosyne 1995. Mysterious Fayum Portraits. London: H.N. Abrams, pp. 153-154, 219, pl. 98.
Borg, Barbara E. 1996. Mumienporträts, Chronologie, und kultureller Kontext. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern, p. 186, no. 25.
Walker, Susan 2000. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 110-111, no. 69.
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The Met's collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 26,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period.
