Roman-Egyptian Individuals Had Their Color Portraits Done Before Being Mummified; They Were Advanced in Time
General Pitt Rivers was a nineteenth-century collector with several valuable historical artifacts under his custody. His collection allegedly had fragments of valuable portraits, stated Rethinking Pitt-Rivers. The background of the portraits made the researchers more intrigued about the objects.
The pieces were brought from the Reverend Greville John Chester for £6. There were three fragments of mummy portraits in total. They were described as "portions of mummy portraits from the Fayoum Egypt" on page 573 of the second volume in Pitt Rivers' 'Second' Collection book. Experts claim that the fragments are parts of Fayoum portraits, a term given to illustrations from Roman Egypt, dating from the early 1st Century to the late 3rd Century A.D. These portraits had features of pharaonic Egypt and Classical world culture. The objective of the portraits is to represent a mummified individual. Though the term 'Fayoun' is attached to the illustrations, most of the portraits have not been found in the city.
In the book, no details like date, finding spots, physical description, or identity of the subjects in the portraits present in Pitt-Rivers' collection have been recorded. There are three fragments of these portraits in the catalog, which give an idea about the subject's appearance. The left-hand fragment only has a cross-section of a face. The portion is rectangular, narrow, and vertical with angled ends. The only features visible in this piece are an eye, some part of the nostril, and a mouth edge. The central fragment is a little longer and wider than the left piece. It has the central portion of the face, including both the eyes. The right one has the left side of the face, containing a large eye, a major portion of the nose, and a corner of the right eye. All three fragments appear to have different people posing before a blue-grey ground.
In 1984, Sotheby's in London auctioned several items in the custody of Mrs. Stella Pitt-Rivers. The collection had three fragments of the Fayum portraits, dating around the 5th to 6th century A.D. One of the pieces was documented by a man called Jack Ogden. Based on that description researchers claimed that the subject of this one was the same person present in the right fragment of the Pitt-Rivers collection. The features of the portrait along with the color palette indicated that it was the same portrait once present in the Pitt Rivers collection.
To identify the mummy portrait fragments, researchers compared them with other known portraits of the time. Most mummy portraits from this era have been excavated from the cemeteries of Hawara and Er-Rubayat. In the British Museum, there is a mummy portrait bought from Chester in 1890. Researchers believe it is similar in style to the right-hand fragment illustrated in the catalog. The subject is an elderly woman with greying black hair parted from the middle. An identical technique of drawing is noted in a portrait present at the Kunsthistoriches Museum. Here, the subject is an elderly man. It was found in Er-Rubayat. Multiple experts believe that both the subjects belong to the same family, possibly husband and wife, and may have also been placed in the same tomb. Researchers speculate that the subject of the Pitt-River portrait and that of both the museums belonged to one family.
It is well-known that Chester traded many portraits found at Er-Rubayat. So it is possible that the origin of Pitt-Rivers fragments was also Er-Rubayat. Researchers hope to analyze the fragment more in-depth to make a concrete connection. These portraits were made to eternalize individuals even after death, and the intrigue proves that they have served their purpose.