Defining a Romano-Egyptian painting workshop at Tebtunis
Resource type
Book chapter
Creator (person)
Williams, Jane
Cartwright, Caroline
Walton, Marc
Date published
2020
Abstract
The collections of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, include eleven mummy portraits excavated between 1899 and 1900 from Tebtunis, Egypt. This group constitutes one of the largest assemblages of Roman-period mummy portraits to remain both together and unrestored since excavation; as such, it presents a rare opportunity to explore the local practices of an ancient painting workshop. The group also contains, on the back of an effaced portrait, direct evidence of painting practice: a sketch with annotations detailing how the image should be completed. The APPEAR project inspired the collaborative technical study of the eleven Tebtunis portraits as well as a single, additional portrait purchased from Theodor Graf for the University of California, which provides a comparative example of a stylistically different portrait attributed to the site of Kerke.
Book title
Mummy Portraits of Roman Egypt - Emerging Research from the APPEAR Project
Editor
Svoboda, Marie
Caroline, Cartwright
Pagination
132-135
Publisher
Getty Publications
Place of publication
Los Angeles