Roman, from the province of Egypt

Painting—on walls, linen hangings, and wood panels—was a prized art form in ancient Greece and Rome, but few examples survive. In Egypt, however, paintings have sometimes been preserved in dry tombs, such as this naturalistic portrait of a candid, plump, and middle-aged woman dressed in her best. Greeks and Romans who lived in Egypt after it became a Roman province adapted the ancient Egyptian custom of mummy portraits. The textured lower edge may indicate where a frame was removed when this family portrait was inserted in mummy wrappings. The earliest so-called mummy portraits were painted about A.D. 50, but the practice ended in 392 when the Christian emperor Theodosius outlawed mummification.

Tempera on panel, about A.D. 200
Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1971.130