Illustrative model — an approximation, not a scan of the original object.
c. 90 – 120 CE
Portrait of a Young Woman in Red
Date given by the Metropolitan Museum.
- Material
- Encaustic on limewood, with gilding
- Dimensions
- H. 38.1 cm, W. 18.4 cm
- Findspot
- From Egypt; the museum record does not give an exact findspot
- Discovery
- Purchased by the Metropolitan Museum in 1909 (Rogers Fund).
- Held by
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Inventory number
- 09.181.6
A portrait of a young woman in a dark red tunic, painted on a thin wooden panel that was placed over the mummy’s face. Its background was originally gilded.
Such portraits combine the realistic Greco-Roman painting style with the Egyptian custom of mummification.
Certainty: Established
The museum notes that the portrait’s background was originally gilded, stressing the divine status of the deceased.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York “Portrait of a young woman in red, 09.181.6” metmuseum.org
Certainty: Established
Mummy portraits were painted in encaustic or tempera on wooden panels, mostly in the first and second centuries CE.
- Susan Walker, Morris Bierbrier (1997) “Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt” British Museum Press