PORTRAIT OF WOMAN FROM ER-RUBAYAT
Your purchase will also include a FREE Egyptian Style Oil lamp, created by Potted History.
potted-history.co.uk/products/egyptian-frog-oil-lamp
The Fayum mummy portrait tradition fused Egyptian mummification practices with the realism of Greco-Roman portraiture, to preserve their subjects for eternity. A costly, time consuming process, only the elite in society were able to afford to have their relatives preserved in this way. There's definitely a formulaic element to these paintings- which were originally intended as an outer face covering on mummy cases. But an individual's status was indicated by their dress and jewellery. These works have the capacity to make us see a person from almost 2,000 years ago as a real living subject, rather than a flat anonymous figure overlooked by the history books.
This refined sophisticated looking woman has a serene expression, with an unwavering gaze. She wears a dark blue tunic, with a gold “clavus” (a vertical band running down the front and back of a garment) that extends as a band below the neckline of the tunic. Over her left shoulder she wears a cream coloured mantle. She has earrings of square emeralds set in gold, with suspended pearls. Round her neck is a heavy necklace featuring a pair of large emeralds in a rectangular settings and a central large, oval red stone- possibly a carnelian. These gems are interspersed by large gold plaques. Her dark brown hair is waved around the face. As the original panel was a slightly different format, this replica has some areas that have been extrapolated.
The original Roman -Egyptian mummy portrait originated in er-Rubayat in Egypt, and is dated AD 160- 70 . It can now be found in The British Museum. It was painted on an arched limewood panel using encaustic paint, coloured with lead white, ochres and arsenic colours. The jewellery was added using gold leaf. But for everyone's health and safety, this version has been created using modern Artist's Acrylics - which are non- toxic.
In encaustic painting the molten coloured waxes are applied with brushes and various fine spatula tools, using cross latching to build up a sense of form and shape. Modern Artists Acrylic is an excellent, non toxic substitute for the original paints used for such works. Many of the pigments still used today by professional artists are exactly the same earth colours used in history, just sourced and ground commercially, rather than by the individual painter in a pestle and mortar. Acrylic polymers act as the binding material for the colours.
This replica painting was painted on modern wooden ply gesso board, which provides a fine, smooth painting surface and a very durable support. Gesso board has been the favoured material for paintings for millennia, as it is such a good surface to work on, and the fine white surface allows the colours to remain bright and clear. It is extremely durable, as demonstrated by the number of paintings created on such boards still hanging in galleries all round the world.
SIZE
Painted gesso board 36.4 x 23.3 cm
It is ready to hang and framed in a bespoke solid wooden frame, with a dark “distressed” finish, to resemble bronze to emulate a simple classic Roman style frame. There is no glass required, as it has been finished with two layers of UVA protective matt varnish, to protect against light and mechanical damage. The outer dimensions of the framed work is 44.7 x 31.7cm wide by 2.8cm deep.
