Ancient faces : mummy portraits from Roman Egypt / edited by Susan Walker.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Walker, Susan.

Taylor & Francis eBooks.

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romans.

Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient.

Portraits, Roman.

Portraits, Egyptian.

Mummy portraits.

Classical antiquities.

Egypt--Antiquities, Roman--Exhibitions.

Egypt.

Mummy portraits--Egypt--Exhibitions.

Portraits, Egyptian--Exhibitions.

Portraits, Roman--Egypt--Exhibitions.

Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient--Egypt--Exhibitions.

Romans--Egypt--Exhibitions.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (168 pages) : illustrations (some color), map

Place of Publication:

New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Routledge, 2000.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

From the first major discoveries a century ago, the painted portraits of Roman Egypt were a revelation to scholars and the public alike, and the recent finding of a new cache of these gilded images, which made national headlines, have only heightened their mystery and appeal. Published to coincide with a new major exhibition of these portraits, Ancient Faces is the most comprehensive, up-to-date survey of these astonishing works of art.

Dating from the later period of Roman rule in Egypt, shortly before the birth of Christ, the painted mummy portraits are among the most remarkable products of the ancient world, a fusion of the traditions of pharonic Egypt and the Classical world. They are historical and cultural objects of outstanding importance and beauty, superb works of art that represent some of the earliest known examples of life-life portraiture. Though the subjects of the portraits believed in the traditional Egyptian cults, which offered them a firm prospect of life after death, they also wished to be commemorated in the Roman manner, with their fashion of dress and adornment signaling their status in life. Despite their ancient history, these portraits speak to the modern eye with a beauty and intensity that would be lost to portraiture until the Renaissance.

Contents:

Acknowledgements (starting p. 6)

Director's Foreword (starting p. 7)

Map (starting p. 8)

Before the Portraits: Burial Practices in Pharaonic Egypt (starting p. 9) / John Taylor

Graeco-Roman Portraiture (starting p. 14) / Kurt Gschwantler

Mummy Portraits and Roman Portraiture (starting p. 23) / Susan Walker

The Fayum and its People (starting p. 26) / R. S. Bagnall

Technique (starting p. 30) / Euphrosyne C. Doxiadis

The Discovery of the Mummy Portraits (starting p. 32) / Morris Bierbrier

A Note on the Dating of Mummy Portraits (starting p. 34) / Susan Walker

Portraits and Mummies from Hawara (starting p. 38)

Gilded Masks from Hawara (starting p. 66)

Portraits from er-Rubayat (Philadelphia) (starting p. 69)

Portraits from Antinoopolis and other Sites (starting p. 88)

Portraits of Technical Interest (starting p. 120)

Pagan Icons (starting p. 124)

Portraits on Painted Plaster Masks (starting p. 128)

Stone Funerary Stelae (starting p. 141)

Portraits of the Later Third Century A.D. from Dier el-Bahri and Antinoopolis (starting p. 145)

The Cultural and Archaeological Context (starting p. 149)

Select Bibliography (starting p. 161)

Glossary (starting p. 163)

Egyptian Deities and Chronology (starting p. 164)

Lenders to the Exhibition and Photographic Acknowledgements (starting p. 165)

Concordance of Catalogue and Museum Numbers (starting p. 166)

Notes:

"In the present exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ... to a core group of portraits from the exhibition in the British Museum more than forty paintings and related objects from German, French, Canadian, and American collections [have been added]"--Director's foreword.

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic reproduction. London Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781315023175

1315023172

Publisher Number:

99984159596

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.