Mummy Portrait of a Rich Woman Anagoria 

Here in Berlin is a Fayum portrait of a rich woman named Anagoria, painted in the Roman Egypt likely in the second century AD. It uses wax encaustic on wood. The portrait dominates a dark, vertical wood panel. Anagoria's gaze is direct, with a face made of carefully blended browns and reds. The dark hair and shadowed eyes contrast with the light reflecting off her pearl earrings and necklace. We can read this portrait as a meeting point of cultural codes. The encaustic technique, used to bind pigment to the wood, allows for a rich and luminous surface. It merges with the classical portraiture styles of the Roman elite and ancient Egyptian burial customs. The panel's raw edges and visible wood grain create an interesting tension between the polished portrayal of wealth and the materiality of the object itself, highlighting how surfaces and forms operate within cultural and representational frameworks. This portrait encapsulates a specific moment and place but continues to invite interpretations.