Panel Portrait of a Woman
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Curationist Object DescriptionThis woman ‘s portrait has grown hazy with age, but we can still see her brilliantly gilded earrings, gold coin necklace, and gold details on her garment. The knot in her purple and white garment may associate her with the cult of the goddess Isis. Isis merged with the Greek goddess Aphrodite in some places during the Ptolemaic dynasty. Isis-Aphrodite was still popular during this woman’s lifetime, reinforcing the syncretic beliefs about life, death, and divinity that characterized Fayum portraits, which drew from both Egyptian and Greco-Roman funerary practices. Read more about syncretism in Greco-Egyptian funerary portraiture.
The woman portrayed here is richly adorned with jewelry, from her gold and pearl earrings to the gold embellishments on her purple garment to her heavy gold necklace. The raised shapes are created with plaster, and the gold elements are gilded. The central design of the large disc pendant appears to be a gold coin, and examples of Roman and Late antique jewelry that incorporates gold coins have survived. The woman’s white garment is tied in a knot that may connect her to the cult of the goddess Isis. The shape of the panel—narrower around her head and broader at her shoulders—is thought to be characteristic of mummy portraits from the city of Antinoöpolis, Egypt. This panel is unusually thick, ...
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