Funerary Portrait of a Young Girl
Unknown Artist
c. 25–37 CE
Medium
encaustic on linden wood
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.394,"width":0.174}}
Classification
Painting
Department
Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1971.137
About this artwork
Transforming the spirit—not beautifying the mortal body—may have been the purpose of adding golden lips and jewelry to this painting. Egyptian-style burial customs and arts persisted throughout Greek, Roman, and Byzantine rule over Egypt (305 BCE–641 CE). The woman depicted in this panel lived between cultures. Her or her family’s choice of mummification reflected historical Egyptian practices of creating a physical “duplicate” for the deceased’s soul to rest in, and their decision to color her ...