The background of this portrait was originally gilded, emphasizing the divine status of the deceased young woman. She looks at the viewer with large serious eyes, accentuated by long lashes. A mass of loose curls covers her head, and some strands fall along the back of her neck on the left side. Framed by the black hair, deeply shadowed neck, and dark red tunic, her brightly lit face stands out in appealing youthfulness, an impression that is heightened by the gold wreath and sparkling jewelry.
For more on the technique used to create this portrait, see 09.181.1.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Portrait of a young woman in red
Period:Roman Period
Date:A.D. 90–120
Geography:From Egypt
Medium:Encaustic on limewood with gold leaf
Dimensions:H. 38.1 x W. 18.4 cm (15 x 7 1/4 in.)
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1909
Accession Number:09.181.6
Purchased from Maurice Nahman in Cairo, 1909
Lythgoe, Albert M. 1910. "Græco–Egyptian Portraits." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 5, no. 3 (March), p. 71.
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1911. A Handbook of the Egyptian Rooms. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, fig. 59 [right].
1911. Catalogo della Mostra Archeologica nelle Terme di Diocleziano. Rome: Istituto Italiano d'Arti Grafiche, pp. 157–8, fig. on page 157.
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1913. A Handbook of the Egyptian Rooms. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, fig. 59 [right].
Metropolitan Museum of Art 1916. A Handbook of the Egyptian Rooms. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, fig. 59 [right].
Swindler, Mary Hamilton 1929. Ancient painting, from the earliest times to the period of Christian art. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 319 ff., fig. 512.
Galassi, Giuseppe 1953. Roma o Bisanzio, 1. Rome: Librerio dello Stato, pp. 138, 579, fig. 64.
Parlasca, Klaus 1966. Mumienporträts und verwandte Denkmäler. Wiesbaden: Steiner, p. 42 (nn. 172, 177), p. 240 (nn. 213, 253).
Berger, Jacques-Edouard and René Creux 1977. L'oeil & l'éternité: portraits romains d'Egypte. Paudeux, p. 216.
Parlasca, Klaus 1977. Ritratti di Mummie, Ser B- II. Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto Greco-Romano, Palermo: Fondazione Mormino, pp. 43-44, no. 308.
Dorman, Peter F., Prudence Harper, and Holly Pittman 1987. Egypt and the Ancient Near East. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 86-87.
Doxiades, Euphrosyne 1995. Mysterious Fayum Portraits. London: H.N. Abrams, pp. 153-153, pl. 97.
Borg, Barbara E. 1996. Mumienporträts, Chronologie, und kultureller Kontext. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern, p. 192.
Walker, Susan 2000. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 106-107, no. 66.
Hill, Marsha 2000. "Roman Egypt." In The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West, edited by Elizabeth J. Milleker. New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 99, fig. 80, p. 208.
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The Met's collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 26,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period.
