Art in Egypt under the Romans: painting

Through the good conservation conditions in the arid climate of Egypt, there are many object categories preserved in this country, not known from other parts of the Ancient world. Paintings on wooden boards are well-known from ancient literature. Well-preserved examples have survived only in Egypt. There are the mummy portraits, showing a more or less realistic portrait of a person. There are also other examples of paintings on wooden boards, which must have served a different function. Paintings on other materials, such as wall-paintings, must have been very common as well but are not so well represented in the Petrie Museum.

	Fragment of a painted wooden board, showing an eagle. The complete board might have shown the portrait of a Roman emperor and adorned perhaps a public building.
	Fragments of wall paintings, found at Oxyrhynchus. Wall paintings adorned public and private houses in the whole Roman empire.
	This small wooden bow is decorated with floral motifs and pictures of birds.
	The best mummy portraits are of a very high quality standard, only reached again in portrait painting in the Renaissance.
	The mummy portraits display a wide range of quality. These example was found at Kafr Ammar.