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Funerary Portrait of a Young Girl
Unknown maker (Egypt), c. 25–37 CE
This portrait panel, painted around 25 to 37 CE in wax colours on linden wood, was part of a burial in Roman Egypt. According to the Cleveland Museum of Art, the gold lips and jewellery may have been intended to change the girl's spirit, not to beautify her body.
Egyptian burial customs and arts continued through the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods. The girl in this panel lived between cultures. Mummification reflects older Egyptian practice, in which a physical duplicate gave the soul a place to rest. Gold lips may suggest that death turned her into an akh, an effective spirit.
Her clothing and hairstyle, by contrast, show that she or her family embraced the ideals of Greek and Roman Egypt. The panel is tall and narrow, about 39 by 17 centimetres.
From the museum record
| Artist | Unknown maker (Egypt) |
|---|---|
| Date | c. 25–37 CE |
| Medium | Encaustic on linden wood |
| Size | Overall: 39.4 x 17.4 cm |
| Museum | The Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Credit line | John L. Severance Fund |
| Accession number | 1971.137 |
| Licence | Open Access (CC0) |
Source: The Cleveland Museum of Art collection record. Facts such as dates, sizes and credit lines come from that record. The write-up above was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the museum record and standard references. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
