Detail of a mummy portrait from Hawara. This is a thin lime (Tilia species) wooden panel with encaustic wax mummy portrait. of Petrie’s “red youth”. The man has curly light beard and moustache. It appears that a sharp tool was used to delineate the shape of the face, ears, and eyebrows. From Hawara cemetery, Egypt. 1st to 2nd centuries CE. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London (with thanks to The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL).
The Petrie Museum has the largest collection of these “portraits” outside of Egypt. Originally, these portraits were placed over their mummified body; these images were hailed as the 1st life-like representations of real people on their 1st exhibition in London in 1888 CE. These portraits were excavated in 1888-1889 CE and 1901-1911 CE.