Roman Period, late 1st century B.C.-3rd century A.D. A group of wooden fragments belonging to at least two separate polychrome painted wooden mummy portraits, including fragments which fit together; fragments mainly display eye, nose, mouth, cheek and hair detailing. Cf. Borg, B., 'Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt ..' Ägyptische Porträtmumien, Mainz, 1998, pp.8-9, fig.7, for a complete portrait in tempura with similarly rendered eyes. 44 grams total, 7.5-18 cm (3 - 7 in.). Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016. Many of these portraits come from cemeteries in the Fayyum region of Egypt, but others have been found at sites such as Thebes. The portrait would have been attached to the mummy of the deceased. Almost all are painted on thin rectangular wooden panels using either the encaustic technique (hot coloured wax) or tempura (pigment added to a water-soluble binder, such as egg yolk). The finely detailed and gently graduated shading of the features on this fragmentary panel are consistent with those produced in tempera. [8, No Reserve]