Be a Detective: Identify Clues from Life

Transcript: Mummy Portrait of Isidora

MUSIC: [lyre string music]

NARRATOR: In this Roman-Egyptian mummy portrait of a wealthy woman, pearl earrings, a jeweled choker, and gold-ornamented shroud all mark the aristocratic status she would have held in life. Rather remarkably, almost 2,000 years after her death, her name is known.

Conservator Marie Svoboda explains.

MARIE SVOBODA: Many Roman mummies from this period have the names of the deceased, and we know her as “Isidora” because there’s an inscription on the side of her shroud.

NARRATOR: You can see the name Isidora written in Greek on the upper-left corner of the portrait. This inscription was thought to help the spirit of the dead recognize the body, and for practical reasons, to identify and return it to the family after mummification.

The portrait itself, which was once attached to the mummy, is painted in encaustic, a mixture of wax and pigment applied with brushes and other tools to a wooden surface.

MARIE SVOBODA: One of the features of the encaustic technique is not only the beautiful colors and translucency, but the tool markings that you can see on the surface.

NARRATOR: It took both careful observation and creative license to paint a rather lifelike portrait like this after the subject’s death. The artist noted signs of Isidora’s mature age, like the creases on her neck and shadows beneath her eyes. But he also added a sparkle to her eyes and flattered her likeness in other ways.

MARIE SVOBODA: You see this highlight underneath her chin and on her neck that is just absolutely beautiful. You also see the light highlighting her lips and down her nose. It’s evidence that the artist was very, very talented and really understood the materials.

MUSIC: [lyre music]

NARRATOR: The red paint of her shroud and the type of wood the portrait is painted on, even the technique of encaustic, originated beyond Egypt. These imported materials were chosen to help preserve the mummy. But they, and the overall style of this portrait, also reflect the mix of cultures—namely Greek, Roman, and Egyptian—in the region at that time. Much about Isidora is uncertain. Yet with her distinctive features she seems convincingly real.