Roman Period
ca. 1st century C.E.
Plaster, painted, gilded
9 13/16 x 10 3/16 x 5 1/2 in. (25 x 25.8 x 13.9 cm)
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Brooklyn Museum
Roman Period Artistic Styles
The Roman period in Egypt (33 BC-300 AD), is evident in this coffin footcase, which blends traditional Egyptian style with artistic styles borrowed primarily from classical Greece. This amalgamated style is evident in burial methods, which continue mummification but include naturalistic mummy portraits, with painted shrouds and masks. Among the coffin decorations that appear in Roman Egypt are detailed drawings at the foot of the wooden coffins. These often illustrated the tops of sandal-clad feet, and, on the bottom of the coffin, the soles of the shoes.
On this footcase, a naturalistic expression of toes in a sandal are shown—but on the bottom side of the footcase is an unusual form: that of defeated enemies.
Sources and Further Information
See the next page for an image of the bottom of this footcase.
Riggs, Christina. 2005. The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, identity and funerary religion. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
From February 12 through May 2, 2010, the Brooklyn Museum will present an exhibition of Egyptian artifacts, called To Live Forever. The exhibition features part of the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund collection, which were taken from tombs dated between the Old Kingdom through the Roman period. This photo essay is built from photos provided by Brooklyn Museum.
