Fayum mummy portraits

to the Coptic period on time of the Roman occupation of

Egypt.[1]
They date to the Roman period, from the late 1st century BCE or the early 1st century CE onwards. It is not
clear when their production ended, but recent research
suggests the middle of the 3rd century. They are among
the largest groups among the very few survivors of the
highly prestigious panel painting tradition of the classical
world, which was continued into Byzantine and Western
traditions in the post-classical world, including the local
tradition of Coptic iconography in Egypt.
The portraits covered the faces of bodies that were mummied for burial. Extant examples indicate that they were
mounted into the bands of cloth that were used to wrap
the bodies. Almost all have now been detached from the
mummies.[2] They usually depict a single person, showing the head, or head and upper chest, viewed frontally. In
terms of artistic tradition, the images clearly derive more
from Graeco-Roman traditions than Egyptian ones.[3]
Two groups of portraits can be distinguished by technique: one of encaustic (wax) paintings, the other in
tempera. The former are usually of higher quality.
About 900 mummy portraits are known at present.[4] The
majority were found in the necropoleis of Faiyum. Due to
the hot dry Egyptian climate, the paintings are frequently
very well preserved, often retaining their brilliant colours
seemingly unfaded by time.

1 History of research
Mummy portrait of a young woman, 3rd century, Louvre, Paris.

1.1 Pre-19th century

Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits (also
Faiyum mummy portraits) is the modern term given to
a type of naturalistic painted portraits on wooden boards
attached to mummies from the Coptic period. They belong to the tradition of panel painting, one of the most
highly regarded forms of art in the Classical world. In
fact, the Fayum portraits are the only large body of art
from that tradition to have survived.

The Italian explorer Pietro della Valle, on a visit to

Saqqara-Memphis in 1615, was the rst European to discover and describe mummy portraits. He transported
some mummies with portraits to Europe, which are now
in the Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden).[5]

1.2 19th century collectors

Mummy portraits have been found across Egypt, but are

most common in the Faiyum Basin, particularly from
Hawara and Antinoopolis, hence the common name.
Faiyum Portraits is generally thought of as a stylistic, rather than a geographic, description. While painted
Cartonnage mummy cases date back to pharaonic times,
the Faiyum mummy portraits were an innovation dating

Although interest in Ancient Egypt steadily increased after that period, further nds of mummy portraits did not
become known before the early 19th century. The provenance of these rst new nds is unclear; they may come
from Saqqara as well, or perhaps from Thebes. In 1820,
1

1 HISTORY OF RESEARCH

Fanciful but inauthentic depiction of the mummies discovery by

Pietro Della Valle

the Baron of Minotuli acquired several mummy portraits

for a German collector, but they became part of a whole
shipload of Egyptian artifacts lost in the North Sea. In
1827, Lon de Laborde brought two portraits, supposedly
found in Memphis, to Europe, one of which can today
be seen at the Louvre, the other in the British Museum.
Ippolito Rosellini, a member of Jean-Franois Champollion's 1828/29 expedition to Egypt brought a further portrait back to Florence. It is so similar to de Labordes
specimens that it thought to be from the same source.[5]
During the 1820s, the British Consul General to Egypt,
Henry Salt, sent several further portraits to Paris and
London. Some of them were long considered portraits
of the family of the Theban Archon Pollios Soter, a historical character known from written sources, but this has
turned out to be incorrect.[5]
Once again, a long period elapsed before more mummy
portraits came to light. In 1887, Daniel Marie Fouquet
heard of the discovery of numerous portrait mummies in
a cave. He set o to inspect them some days later, but arrived too late, as the nders had used the painted plaques
for rewood during the three previous cold desert nights.
Fouquet acquired the remaining two of what had originally been fty portraits. While the exact location of this
nd is unclear, the likely source is from er-Rubayat.[5]
At that location, not long after Fouquets visit, the Viennese art trader Theodor Graf found several further images, which he tried to sell as protably as possible. He
engaged the famous Leipzig-based Egyptologist Georg
Ebers to publish his nds. He produced presentation

The single specimen of Gayets mummy portraits from Antinoopolis for which information on its archaeological context is
available. The heavily gilt portrait was found in winter 1905/06
and sold to Berlin in 1907. Berlin, Egyptian Museum.

folders to advertise his individual nds throughout Europe. Although little was known about their archaeological nd contexts, Graf went as far as to ascribe the
portraits to known Ptolemaic pharaohs by analogy with
other works of art, mainly coin portraits. None of these
associations were particularly well argued or convincing,
but they gained him much attention, not least because he
gained the support of well-known scholars like Rudolf
Virchow. As a result, mummy portraits became the centre of much attention.[6] By the late 19th century, their
very specic aesthetic made same sought-after collection
pieces, distributed by the global arts trade.

2.1

1.3

Painted surface

Archaeological study: Flinders Petrie

In parallel, more scientic engagement with the portraits was beginning. In 1887, the British archaeologist
Flinders Petrie started excavations at Hawara. He discovered a Roman necropolis which yielded 81 portrait mummies in the rst year of excavation. At an exhibition in
London, these portraits drew large crowds. In the following year, Petrie continued excavations at the same location, but now suered from the competition of a German
and an Egyptian art dealer. Petrie returned in the winter of 1910/11 and excavated a further 70 portrait mummies, some of them quite badly preserved.[7] With very
few exceptions, Petries studies still provide the only examples of mummy portraits so far found as the result of
systematic excavation and published properly. Although
the published studies are not entirely up to modern standards, they remain the most important source for the nd
contexts of portrait mummies.

1.4

Late 19th and early 20th century collectors

In 1892, the German archaeologist von Kaufmann discovered the so-called "Tomb of Aline", which held three
mummy portraits; among the most famous today. Other
important sources of such nds are at Antinopolis and
Akhmim. The French archaeologist Albert Gayet worked
at Antinoopolis and found much relevant material, but his
work, like that of many of his contemporaries, does not
satisfy modern standards. His documentation is incomplete, many of his nds remain without context.

1.5

Museums

Today, mummy portraits are represented in all important

archaeological museums of the world. Many museums
around the world have ne examples of Faiyum mummy
portraits on display, notably the British Museum, the
Royal Museum of Scotland, the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York and the Louvre in Paris.[8] Because they
were mostly recovered through inappropriate and unprofessional means, virtually all are without archaeological
context, a fact which consistently lowers the quality of archaeological and culture-historical information they provide. As a result, their overall signicance as well as their
specic interpretations remain highly controversial.[8]

Materials and techniques

The majority images show a formal portrait of a single gure, facing and looking toward the viewer, from an angle
that is usually slightly turned from full face. The gures
are presented as busts against a monochrome background
which in some instances is decorated. The individuals are

Detail of a portrait within its mummy wrappings, Metropolitan

Museum of Art. It was discovered by Flinders Petrie in a burial
chamber in 1911.

both male and female and range in age from childhood to

old age.

2.1 Painted surface

The majority of preserved mummy portraits were painted
on boards or panels, made from dierent imported hardwoods, including oak, lime, sycamore, cedar, cypress, g,
and citrus.[9] The wood was cut into thin rectangular panels and made smooth. The nished panels were set into
layers of wrapping that enclosed the body, and were surrounded by bands of cloth giving the eect of a windowlike opening through which the face of the deceased could
be seen. Portraits were sometimes painted directly onto
the canvas or rags of the mummy wrapping (cartonnage
painting).

2.2

SUBJECTS AND SOCIAL CONTEXT OF THE PAINTINGS

Painting techniques

The wooden surface was sometimes primed for painting

with a layer of plaster. In some cases the primed layer
reveals a preparatory drawing. Two painting techniques
were employed: encaustic (wax) painting and egg-based
tempera. The encaustic images are striking because of
the contrast between vivid and rich colours, and comparatively large brush-strokes, producing an "Impressionistic"
eect. The tempera paintings have a ner gradation
of tones and chalkier colours, giving a more restrained
appearance.[8] In some cases, gold leaf was used to depict
jewellery and wreaths. There also are examples of hybrid
techniques or of variations from the main techniques.
The Fayum portraits reveal a wide range of painterly expertise, and skill in presenting a lifelike appearance. The
naturalism of the portraits is often revealed in knowledge of anatomic structure and in skilled modelling of
the form by the use of light and shade, which gives an appearance of three-dimensionality to most of the gures.
The graded esh tones are enhanced with shadows and
highlights indicative of directional lighting.

3
3.1

Subjects and social context of the

paintings
People of Fayum

Under Greco-Roman rule, Egypt hosted several Greek

settlements, mostly concentrated in Alexandria, but also
in a few other cities, where Greek settlers lived alongside some seven to ten million native Egyptians.[10]
Faiyums earliest Greek inhabitants were soldier-veterans
and cleruchs (elite military ocials) who were settled
by the Ptolemaic kings on reclaimed lands.[11][12] Native Egyptians also came to settle in Faiyum from all
over the country, notably the Nile Delta, Upper Egypt,
Oxyrhynchus and Memphis, to undertake the labor involved in the land reclamation process, as attested by personal names, local cults and recovered papyri.[13] It is
estimated that as much as 30 percent of the population
of Faiyum was Greek during the Ptolemaic period, with
the rest being native Egyptians.[14] By the Roman period,
much of the Greek population of Faiyum was madeup of either Hellenized Egyptians or people of mixed
Egyptian-Greek origins.[15]
While commonly believed to represent Greek settlers in
Egypt,[16][17] the Faiyum portraits instead reect the complex synthesis of the predominant Egyptian culture and
that of the elite Greek minority in the city.[18] According to Walker, the early Ptolemaic Greek colonists married local women and adopted Egyptian religious beliefs,
and by Roman times, their descendants were viewed as
Egyptians by the Roman rulers, despite their own selfperception of being Greek.[19] The dental morphology[20]

A portrait from the late 1st century CE. Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.

of the Roman-period Faiyum mummies was also compared with that of earlier Egyptian populations, and
was found to be much more closely akin to that of
ancient Egyptians than to Greeks or other European
populations.[21]

3.2 Age prole of those depicted

Most of the portraits depict the deceased at a relatively
young age, and many show children. According to
Walker (2000), "C.A.T. scans of all the complete mummies represented [in Walker (2000)] reveal a correspondence of age and, in suitable cases, sex between mummy
and image. Walker concludes that the age distribution
reects the low life expectancy at the time. It was often
believed that the wax portraits were completed during the
life of the individual and displayed in their home, a custom that belonged to the traditions of Greek art,[22] but
this view is no longer widely held given the evidence suggested by the C.A.T. scans of the Faiyum mummies, as
well as Roman census returns. In addition, some portraits

5
children and of her husband. Unlike his wife and children, the latter was not equipped with a portrait but with a
gilt three-dimensional mask. Perhaps plaster masks were
preferred if they could be aorded.

Three-dimensional funerary masks of painted plaster from

Faiyum (1st century). Montreal, Muse des Beaux-Arts.

It is not clear whether those depicted are of Egyptian,

Greek or Roman origin, nor whether the portraits were
commonly used by all ethnicities. The name of some
of those portrayed are known from inscriptions, they
are of Egyptian, Greek and Roman origin. Hairstyles
and clothing are always inuenced by Roman fashion.
Women and children are often depicted wearing valuable
ornaments and ne garments, men often wearing specic and elaborate outts. Greek inscriptions of names
are relatively common, sometimes they include professions. It is not known whether such inscriptions always
reect reality, or whether they may state ideal conditions or aspirations rather than true conditions.[24] One
single inscription is known to denitely indicate the deceaseds profession (a shipowner) correctly.The mummy
Man with sword belt, British Museum.
of a woman named Hermione also included the term
grammatike (). For a long time, it was aswere painted directly onto the con; for example, on a sumed that this indicated that she was a teacher by profession (for this reason, Flinders Petrie donated the portrait
shroud or another part.
to Girton College, Cambridge, the rst residential college
for women in Britain), but today, it is assumed that the
term indicates her level of education. Some portraits of
3.3 Social status
men show sword-belts or even pommels, suggesting that
they were members of the Roman military.[25]
The patrons of the portraits apparently belonged to the
auent upper class of military personnel, civil servants
and religious dignitaries. Not everyone could aord a
4 Culture-historical context
mummy portrait; many mummies were found without
one. Flinders Petrie states that only one or two per cent
of the mummies he excavated were embellished with 4.1 Changes in burial habits
portraits.[23] The rates for mummy portraits do not survive, but it can be assumed that the material caused higher The burial habits of Ptolemaic Egyptians mostly followed
costs than the labour, since in antiquity, painters were ap- ancient traditions. The bodies of members of the upper
preciated as craftsmen rather than as artists.[23] The situ- classes were mummied, equipped with a decorated cofation from the "Tomb of Aline" is interesting in this re- n and a mummy mask to cover the head. The Greeks
gard. It contained four mummies: those of Aline, of two who entered Egypt at that time mostly followed their

5 COEXISTENCE WITH OTHER BURIAL HABITS

own habits. There is evidence from Alexandria and other

sites indicating that they practised the Greek tradition of
cremation. This broadly reects the general situation in
Hellenistic Egypt, its rulers proclaiming themselves to be
pharaohs but otherwise living in an entirely Hellenistic
world, incorporating only very few local elements. Conversely, the Egyptians only slowly developed an interest
in the Greek-Hellenic culture that dominated the East
Mediterranean since the conquests of Alexander. This
situation changed substantially with the arrival of the Romans. Within a few generations, all Egyptian elements
disappeared from everyday life. Cities like Karanis or
Oxyrhynchus are largely Graeco-Roman places. There is
clear evidence that this resulted from a mixing of dierent ethnicities in the ruling classes of Roman Egypt.[26]

4.2

Religious continuity

their death. Newer research rather suggests that they were

only painted after death,[8] an idea perhaps contradicted
by the multiple paintings on some specimens and the (suggested) change of specic details on others. The individualism of those depicted was actually created by variations
in some specic details, within a largely unvaried general
scheme.[8] The habit of depicting the deceased was not a
new one, but the painted images gradually replaced the
earlier Egyptian masks, although the latter continued in
use for some time, often occurring directly adjacent to
portrait mummies, sometimes even in the same graves.

4.5 Realism and convention

Together with the painted Etruscan tombs, the Lucanian
tombs and the Tomb of the Diver in Paestum, the frescoes
from Pompeii and Herculaneum and the Greek vases,
they are the best preserved paintings from ancient times
and are renowned for their remarkable naturalism. It
is, however, debatable whether the portraits depict the
subjects as they really were. Analyses have shown that
the painters depicted faces according to conventions in
a repetitive and formulaic way, albeit with a variety of
hairstyles and beards. They appear to have worked from
a number of standard types without making detailed observations of the unique facial proportions of specic individuals which give each face its own personality.

Only in the sphere of religion is there evidence for a continuation of Egyptian traditions. Egyptian temples were
erected as late as the 2nd century. In terms of burial
habits, Egyptian and Hellenistic elements now mixed.
Cons became increasingly unpopular and went entirely
out of use by the 2nd century. In contrast, mummication appears to have been practised by large parts of the
population. The mummy mask, originally an Egyptian
concept, grew more and more Graeco-Roman in style,
Egyptian motifs became ever rarer. The adoption of Roman portrait painting into Egyptian burial cult belongs
4.6
into this general context.[27]

4.3

Link with Roman funeral masks?

Some authors suggest that the idea of such portraits may

be related to the custom among the Roman nobility of
displaying imagines, images of their ancestors, in the
atrium of their house. In funeral processions, these wax
masks were worn by professional mourners to emphasize
the continuity of an illustrious family line, but originally
perhaps to represent a deeper evocation of the presence
of the dead. Roman festivals such as the Parentalia as
well as everyday domestic rituals cultivated ancestral spirits (see also veneration of the dead). The development
of mummy portraiture may represent a combination of
Egyptian and Roman funerary tradition, since it appears
only after Egypt was established as a Roman province.[28]

4.4

Salon paintings"?

The images depict the heads or busts of men, women

and children. They probably date from c. 30 BC to the
3rd century.[29] To the modern eye, the portraits appear
highly individualistic. Therefore, it has been assumed for
a long time that they were produced during the lifetime
of their subjects and displayed as salon paintings within
their houses, to be added to their mummy wrapping after

Style

In the virtual absence of other panel paintings from the

period in question, it is dicult to make rm statements
about the stylistic context of the portraits. While it seems
clear that they are not in continuity from Egyptian precedents, the same cannot be said for the northern shores
of the Mediterranean, where such material is less likely
to have survived, due to climatic conditions there. Evidence from frescoes, mosaics and other media suggests
that stylistically, the mummy portraits broadly t within
the prevailing Graeco-Roman traditions then dominant
around the Mediterranean.

5 Coexistence with other burial

habits
The religious meaning of mummy portraits has not, so
far, been fully explained, nor have associated grave rites.
There is some indication that it developed from genuine
Egyptian funerary rites, adapted by a multi-cultural ruling class.[8] The tradition of mummy portraits occurred
from the Delta to Nubia, but it is striking that other funerary habits prevailed over portrait mummies at all sites
except those in the Faiyum (and there especially Hawara
and Achmim) and Antinoopolis. In most sites, dierent
forms of burial coexisted. The choice of grave type may

7
have been determined to a large extent by the nancial
means and status of the deceased, modied by local customs. Portrait mummies have been found both in rockcut tombs and in freestanding built grave complexes, but
also in shallow pits. It is striking that they are virtually
never accompanied by any grave oerings, with the exception of occasional pots or sprays of owers.[30]

End of the mummy portrait tradition

Portrait of a Greek man

trait have been suggested; no single reason should probably be isolated, rather, they should be seen as operating
together.

Portrait of a young boy, early 3rd century, Antikensammlung

Berlin.

In the 3rd century the Roman Empire underwent a

severe economic crisis, severely limiting the nancial abilities of the upper classes. Although they
continued to lavishly spend money on representation, they favoured public appearances, like games
and festivals, over the production of portraits. However, other elements of sepulchral representation,
like sarcophagi, did continue.

For a long time, it was assumed that the latest portraits

belong to the end of the 4th century, but recent research
has modied this view considerably, suggesting that the
last wooden portraits belong to the middle, the last directly painted mummy wrappings to the second half of
the 3rd century. It is commonly accepted that production
reduced considerably since the beginning of the 3rd century. Several reasons for the decline of the mummy por-

There is evidence of a religious crisis at the same

time. This may not be as closely connected with
the rise of Christianity as previously assumed (the
earlier suggestion of a 4th-century end to the portraits would coincide with the widespread distribution of Christianity in Egypt. Christianity also never
banned mummication). An increasing neglect of
Egyptian temples is noticeable during the Roman

7 MUMMY PORTRAITS AS SOURCES ON PROVINCIAL ROMAN FASHION

imperial period, leading to a general drop in interest
in all ancient religions.
The Constitutio Antoniniana, i.e. the granting
of Roman citizenship to all free subjects changed
the social structures of Egypt.
For the rst
time, the individual cities gained a degree of selfadministration. At the same time, the provincial upper classes changed in terms of both composition
and inter-relations.

Thus, a combination of several factors appears to have led

to changes of fashion and ritual. No clear causality can be
asserted.[31] Considering the limited nature of the current
understanding of portrait mummies, it remains distinctly
possible that future research will considerably modify the
image presented here. For example, some scholars suspect that the centre of production of such nds, and thus
the centre of the distinctive funerary tradition they represent, may have been located at Alexandria. New nds
from Marina el-Alamein strongly support such a view.[6]
In view of the near-total loss of Greek and Roman paintings, mummy portraits are today considered to be among
the very rare examples of ancient art that can be seen to
reect Great paintings and especially Roman portrait
painting.[8]

7
7.1

Mummy portraits as sources on

provincial Roman fashion
Provincial fashions

Mummy portraits depict a variety of dierent hairstyles.

They are one of the main aids in dating the paintings. The
majority of the deceased were depicted with hairstyles
then in fashion. They are frequently similar to those depicted in sculpture. As part of Roman propaganda, such
sculptures, especially those depicting the imperial family, were often displayed throughout the empire. Thus,
they had a direct inuence on the development of fashion. Nevertheless, the mummy portraits, as well as other
nds, suggest that fashions lasted longer in the provinces
that in the imperial court, or at least that diverse styles
might coexist.

7.2

Hairstyles

Since Roman men tended to wear short-cropped hair, female hairstyles are a better source of evidence for changes
in fashion. The female portraits suggest a coarse chronological scheme: Simple hairstyles with a central parting in
the Tiberian period are followed by more complex ringlet
hairstyles, nested plaits and curly toupes over the forehead in the late 1st century. Small oval nested plaits dominate the time of the Antonines, simple central-parting
hairstyles with a hairknot in the neck occur in the second

Depiction of a woman with curly hair, wearing a violet chiton

and cloak and pendant earrings. British Museum.

half of the 2nd century. The time of Septimius Severus

was characterised by toupe-like uy as well as strict,
straight styles, followed by looped plaits on the crown of
the head. The latter belong to the very nal phase of
mummy portraits, and have only been noted on a few
mummy wrappings. It seems to be the case that curly
hairstyles were especially popular in Egypt.[32]

7.3 Clothing
Like the hairstyles, the clothing depicted also follows the
general fashions of the Roman Empire, as known from
statues and busts. Both men and women tend to wear
a thin chiton as an undergarment. Above it, both sexes
tend to wear a cloak, laid across the shoulders or wound
around the torso. The males wear virtually exclusively
white, while female clothing is often red or pink, but can
also be yellow, white, blue or purple. The chiton often
bears a decorative line (clavus), occasionally light red or
light green, also sometimes gold, but normally in dark
colours. Some painted mummy wrappings from Anti-

The plaited hairstyle of this elite woman makes it possible to date

this painting to the reign of Trajan (98 - 117 CE). Walters Art
Museum, Baltimore.

noopolis depict garments with long sleeves and very wide

clavi. So far, not a single portrait has been denitely
shown to depict the toga, a key symbol of Roman citizenship. It should, however, be kept in mind that Greek
cloaks and togas are draped very similarly on depictions
of the 1st and early 2nd centuries. In the late 2nd and
3rd centuries, togas should be distinguishable, but fail to
occur.[33]

7.4

Jewelry

With very few exceptions, only women are depicted with

jewellery. It generally accords to the common jewellery
types of the Graeco-Roman East. Especially the Antinoopolis portraits depict simple gold link chains and massive gold rings. There are also depictions of precious
or semi-precious stones like emerald, carnelian, garnet,
agate or amethyst, rarely also of pearls. The stones
were normally ground into cylindrical or spherical beads.
Some portraits depict elaborate colliers, with precious
stones set in gold.

Depiction of a woman with a ringlet hairstyle, an orange chiton

with black bands and rod-shaped earrings. Royal Museum of
Scotland.

common in the 1st century are circular or drop-shaped

pendants. Archaeological nds indicate that these were
fully or semi-spherical. Later tastes favoured S-shaped
hooks of gold wire, on which up to ve beads of dierent
colours and materials could be strung. The third shape are
elaborate pendants with a horizontal bar from which two
or three, occasionally four, vertical rods are suspended,
usually each decorated with a white bead or pearl at the
bottom. Other common ornaments include gold hairpins,
often decorated with pearls, ne diadems, and, especially
at Antinoopolis, gold hairnets. Many portraits also depict
amulets and pendants, perhaps with magical functions.[34]

8 Art-historical signicance

The mummy portraits have immense art-historical importance. Ancient sources indicate that panel painting
(rather than wall painting), i.e. painting on wood or other
mobile surfaces was held in high regard. But very few
ancient panel paintings survive. One of the few examples besides the mummy portraits is the Severan Tondo,
There are three basic shapes of ear ornaments: Especially also from Egypt (around 200), which, like the mummy

10

11 BIBLIOGRAPHY

10 See also
Panel painting
Ancient Roman art
Faiyum
Coptic art
Coptic Museum
Pitsa panels

11 Bibliography
(chronological order)

Tondo with images of Septimius Severus and his family.

Antikensammlung Berlin.

portraits, is believed to represent a provincial version of

contemporary style.[35] Some aspects of the mummy portraits, especially their frontal perspective and their concentration on key facial features, strongly resemble later
icon painting. A direct link has been suggested, but it
should be kept in mind that the mummy portraits represent only a small part of a much wider Graeco-Roman
tradition, the whole of which later bore an inuence on
Late Antique and Byzantine Art. A pair of panel icons
of Serapis and Isis of comparable date (3rd century) and
style are in the Getty Museum at Malibu;[36] as with the
cult of Mithras, earlier examples of cult images were
sculptures or pottery gurines, but from the 3rd century
reliefs and then painted images are found.[37]

Gallery of images
Faiyum mummy portrait of a young man.
Antikensammlungen Munich.
Portrait of a woman, on display at the Museo Egizio.
Portrait of a man holding a plant, Muse des BeauxArts, Dijon.
Portrait of a woman, Louvre.
Portrait of a young man, Pushkin Museum.
Portrait of a boy, identied by inscription as Eutyches, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Portrait of a man, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Portrait of a bearded man Edinburgh, MoS
1911.210.1, Royal Museum of Scotland

W. M. Flinders Petrie: Roman Portraits and Memphis IV, London 1911 (online:)
Klaus Parlasca: Mumienportrts und verwandte
Denkmler, Wiesbaden 1966
Klaus Parlasca: Ritratti di mummie, Repertorio d'arte
dell'Egitto greco-romano Vol. B, 1-4, Rome 19692003 (Corpus of most of the known mummy portraits)
Henning Wrede: Mumienportrts. In: Lexikon der
gyptologie. Bd. IV, Wiesbaden 1982, column 218222
Euphrosyne Doxiadis: The Mysterious Fayum Portraits. Thames and Hudson, 1995
Barbara Borg: Mumienportrts. Chronologie und
kultureller Kontext, Mainz 1996, ISBN 3-80531742-5
Susan Walker, Morris Bierbrier: Ancient Faces,
Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt, London 1997
ISBN 0-7141-0989-4
Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt ....
gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998 (Zaberns
Bildbnde zur Archologie/ Sonderhefte der Antiken Welt), ISBN 3-8053-2264-X; ISBN 3-80532263-1
Wilfried Seipel (Hrsg.): Bilder aus dem Wstensand. Mumienportraits aus dem gyptischen Museum Kairo; eine Ausstellung des Kunsthistorischen
Museums Wien, Milan/Wien/Ostldern 1998; ISBN
88-8118-459-1;
Klaus Parlasca; Hellmut Seemann (Hrsg.): Augenblicke. Mumienportrts und gyptische Grabkunst
aus rmischer Zeit [zur Ausstellung Augenblicke
- Mumienportrts und gyptische Grabkunst aus
Rmischer Zeit, in der Schirn-Kunsthalle Frankfurt
(30. Januar bis 11. April 1999)], Mnchen 1999,
ISBN 3-7814-0423-4

11
Nicola Hoesch: Mumienportrts in: Der Neue Pauly,
Vol. 8 (2000), p. 464f.

[14] Bagnall, op cit.

[15] Bagnall, pp. 28-29

Susan Walker (ed.): Ancient Faces. Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. New York, 2000. ISBN [16] Egyptology Online: Fayoum mummy portraits accessed
on January 16, 2007
0-415-92744-7.
Paula Modersohn-Becker und die gyptischen Mumienportraits...Katalogbuch zur Ausstellung in Bremen, Kunstsammlung Bttcherstrae, 14.10.200724.2.2008, Mnchen 2007, ISBN 978-3-77743735-4
Jan Picton, Stephen Quirke, Paul C. Roberts (Hrsg):
Living Images, Egyptian Funerary Portraits in the
Petrie Museum, Walnut Creek CA 2007 ISBN 9781-59874-251-0

12

References

[17] Encyclopdia Britannica Online - Egyptian art and architecture - Greco-Roman Egypt accessed on January 16,
2007
[18] Bagnall, op cit.
[19] Walker, Susan, op cit., p. 24
[20] Dentition helps archaeologists to assess biological and ethnic population traits and relationships
[21] Irish JD (2006). Who were the ancient Egyptians? Dental anities among Neolithic through postdynastic peoples.. Am J Phys Anthropol 129 (4): 529-43
[22] Encyclopedia Of Ancient Greece, Nigel Guy, Routledge
Taylor and Francis group, p.601

[1] Berman, Lawrence, Freed, Rita E., and Doxey, Denise.

Arts of Ancient Egypt. p.193. Museum of Fine Arts
Boston. 2003. ISBN 0-87846-661-4

[23] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 58

[2] Examples still attached are in the Egyptian Museum,

Cairo and the British Museum

[24] Nicola Hoesch: Mumienportrts in: Der Neue Pauly, Bd.

8 (2000), p. 465

[3] Oakes, Lorna. Gahlin, Lucia. Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Reference to the Myths, Religions, Pyramids and
Temples of the Land of the Pharaohs. p.236 Hermes
House. 2002. ISBN 1-84477-008-7

[25] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 53-55

[4] Corpus of all known specimens: Klaus Parlasca: Ritratti di

mummie, Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto greco-romano Vol.
B, 1-4, Rome 1969-2003; a further specimen discovered
since: Petrie Museum UC 79360, B. T. Trope, S. Quirke,
P. Lacovara: Excavating Egypt, Atlanta 2005, p. 101,
ISBN 1-928917-06-2
[5] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 10f.
[6] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 13f., 34.
[7] Petrie: Roman Portraits and Memphis IV, p. 1
[8] Nicola Hoesch: Mumienportrts in: Der Neue Pauly, Bd.
8 (2000), p. 464
[9] Wrede, L IV, 218
[10] Adams, Winthrope L in Bugh, Glenn Richard. ed. The
Hellenistic Kingdoms. The Cambridge Companion to
the Hellenistic World. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 2006, p. 39
[11] Stanwick, Paul Edmund. Portraits of the Ptolemies: Greek
Kings as Egyptian Pharaohs. Austin: University of Texas
Press. 2003, p. 23
[12] Adams, op cit.
[13] Bagnall, R.S. in Susan Walker, ed. Ancient Faces :
Mummy Portraits in Roman Egypt (Metropolitan Museum
of Art Publications). New York: Routledge, 2000, p. 27

[26] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 40-56; Walker,
Bierbrier: Ancient Faces, p. 17-20
[27] summarised in: Judith A. Corbelli: The Art of Death in
Graeco-Roman Egypt, Princes Risborough 2006 ISBN 07478-0647-0
[28] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 78
[29] Nicola Hoesch: Mumienportrts in: Der Neue Pauly, Vol.
8 (2000), p. 464; others scholars, e.g. Barbara Borg suggest that they start under Tiberius.
[30] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 31
[31] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 88-101
[32] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 45-49
[33] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 49-51
[34] Barbara Borg: Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt .... gyptische Portrtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 51-52
[35] other examples: a framed portrait from Hawara (Walker,
Bierbrier: Ancient Faces, p. 121-122, Nr. 117), the image of a man anked by two deities from the same site
(Walker, Bierbrier: Ancient Faces, p. 123-24, Nr. 119),
or the 6th century BC panels from Pitsa in Greece

12

13

[36] image
[37] Kurt Weitzmann in The Icon, 1982, Evans Brothers Ltd,
London, p. 3, (trans of Le Icone, Montadori 1981), ISBN
0-237-45645-1

13

External links

Mummy portraits in the Petrie Museum

Proportion and personality in the Faiyum Portraits,
A.J.N.W Prag, November 2002
History of Encaustic Art
Petries report from 1911
Detailed discussion of mummy portraits
Gallery of Fayum Mummy Portraits at Flickr

EXTERNAL LINKS

13

14
14.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Fayum mummy portraits Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayum%20mummy%20portraits?oldid=656355754 Contributors: Eloquence, William Avery, Roadrunner, Olivier, Error, Bogdangiusca, Big iron, Raven in Orbit, Markhurd, Ed g2s, Wetman, SD6-Agent,
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Wareh, Alansohn, Anthony Appleyard, Deacon of Pndapetzim, Ndteegarden, SteinbDJ, Falcorian, Firsfron, FeanorStar7, Sparkit, Josh
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14.2

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