Although the panel shape and palette of paintings 09.181 and 09.181.2 are very similar, differences in the hair and beards suggest that the portrait of the man with the mole (09.181.2) is about a generation earlier than the other.
The man with the mole is turned from a three-quarters right position to direct his arresting gaze toward the viewer. His enormous eyes have highlights and are further emphasized by pink paint along the lids. Pink was also used to shade the long nose. His flesh is a warm peach color.
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 man with a mole on his nose
Period:Roman Period
Date:A.D. 130–150
Geography:From Egypt
Medium:Encaustic on limewood
Dimensions:H. 39.4 x W. 19.3 cm (15 1/2 x 7 5/8 in.)
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1909
Accession Number:09.181.2
Purchased from Maurice Nahman in Cairo, 1909
Ricci, Seymour de 1908. "Lettres de Seymour de Ricci." In Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 52, p. 802, fig. 4.
Lythgoe, Albert M. 1910. "Græco–Egyptian Portraits." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 5, no. 3 (March), p. 70.
Drerup, Heinrich 1933. Die Datierung der Mumienporträts, 19. Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums, 1. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, pp. 13, 37, 56[14] pl. 8.
Zaloscher, Hilde 1964. "The Mummy-Portrait: An Interpretation." In Apollo, 79, fig. 7.
Parlasca, Klaus 1966. Mumienporträts und verwandte Denkmäler. Wiesbaden: Steiner, p. 41 no. 172, p. 42, no. 175, p. 199, no. 38.
Berger, Jacques-Edouard and René Creux 1977. L'oeil & l'éternité: portraits romains d'Egypte. Paudeux, pp. 116, 216.
Parlasca, Klaus 1977. Ritratti di Mummie, Ser B- II. Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto Greco-Romano, Palermo: Fondazione Mormino, p. 45, no. 312, pl. 74.1.
Borg, Barbara E. 1996. Mumienporträts, Chronologie, und kultureller Kontext. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern, pp. 79, 186.
Parlasca, Klaus and Hellmut Seeman 1999. Augenblicke: Mumienporträts und ägyptische Grabkunst aus römischer Zeit: Eine Ausstellung der Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 30. Januar bis 11. April 1999. Frankfurt am Main and Munich: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, p. 339, no. 232.
Walker, Susan 2000. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 111-112, no. 70.
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