Panel Portrait of a Woman
Said to be from er Rubayat
Roman Period (about A.D.160-170)
Limewood, encaustic, gold leaf, 17-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches
EA 65346, acquired in 1939, bequest of Sir Robert Mond (cat. no. 109)
©Trustees of The British Museum, Courtesy AFA

At the time this portrait was made, Egypt was under Roman rule. Painted in the Hellenistic style, it depicts an elegant woman dressed in Greco-Roman fashion. With its modulated tones of shadows and highlights, the image differs greatly from traditional Egyptian art, which lacks spatial depth and avoids oblique views. Despite its non-Egyptian appearance, this panel would have been fastened to the woman’s mummy wrappings, over the face.