Portrait of a man with a mole on his nose

About this artwork

Step into the world of Roman Egypt with this striking *Portrait of a Man with Mole on His Nose*, created around A.D. 130–150 by an unknown artist Measuring 39.4 x 19.3 cm, this encaustic painting on limewood captures a lifelike visage of a middle-aged man, his prominent mole adding a touch of intimate realism. Encaustic, an ancient technique blending heated beeswax with pigments, for luminous colors and fine details that have endured over 1,800 years, making panels remarkably vivid survivors from antiquity. This portrait belongs to the renowned Fayum mummy portrait tradition, produced in the Faiyum region of Roman-period Egypt (ca. 1st–3rd century A.D.). These works fused Greco-Roman portraiture with Egyptian funerary customs: painted on wooden panels and attached to mummies, they served as eternal face masks, blending the deceased's likeness with the afterlife journey. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Egyptian Art collection since 1909 via the Rogers Fund, it exemplifies cultural syncretism under Roman rule, where Hellenistic realism met Pharaonic beliefs. Its artistic significance lies in the hyper-realistic style—direct gaze, textured skin, and subtle modeling—that humanizes the subject, offering a poignant glimpse into daily life. Such portraits, over 900 of which survive, provide invaluable insights into diverse ethnicities, fashions, and expressions of individuality in a multicultural empire.