Mummy portrait
160 CE-190 CE
Medium
wood, gesso, tempera
Measurements
0.7 × 13.1 × 33.2 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1940
© Public Domain
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Mummy portraits were produced in Egypt from the first to the third centuries CE. They were sometimes attached to the coffin lid, or positioned over the face of the deceased and incorporated into the mummy wrappings, with the face still showing. They represent one of the oldest surviving corpuses of painted portraits, yet their purpose is not well understood. It is not known whether they were painted from life and kept in the home, or painted just before or following death. The hairstyles, costume and jewellery allow them to be dated accurately, but it is not clear whether the people represented were of Greek or Egyptian heritage.