Golden Mummies : Relief

Golden Mummies

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Limestone funerary relief sculpture of the head and upper body of a bearded man. He wears a tunic with Greek-style outer garment (known as a himation) over it. The folds of the himation fall vertically over both shoulders, those on the right reaching to the wrist then passing beneath it and diagonally up to the left shoulder, passing beneath the folds on the left (Colledge type 9). His hair is shown in 'snail' curls (with separate locks done as groups of striations). The locks of the beard are arranged symetrically. The eyebrows are rendered plastically. The eyes have no pupil defined, although tear-ducts are indicated. The right hand lies across the chest in the sling formed by the himation while the left lies just above the waist and holds a 'book-roll' (schedula or volumen). To his left is an inscription in simplified Palmyrene monumental style with some cursive elements, which say: "Alas, Yarhay son of Yarhay (son of) Halapta." (J.F. Healey). Dates stylistically and linguistically to the late 2nd century AD. [Colledge Group II, type Qa]</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>These stone busts were made to commemorate the deceased, contemporary with mummy portraits and masks in Egypt, another part of the Roman Empire at this time.</p>