Egyptian Blue Hides in These Mummy Portraits

Dusting off 15 Roman-era Egyptian mummy portraits—mostly untouched for 100 years—has revealed a 2,000-year-old surprise.

Above, Roman-era Egyptian mummy portraits from the site of Tebtunis, Egypt. Researchers found the synthetic pigment Egyptian blue in all three paintings. Credit: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Dusting off 15 Roman-era Egyptian mummy portraits—mostly untouched for 100 years—has revealed a 2,000-year-old surprise.

Researchers discovered that the ancient artists used the pigment Egyptian blue as material for underdrawings and for modulating color—a finding never documented before.

Because blue has to be manufactured, it typically is reserved for very prominent uses, not hidden under other colors.

We see how these artists manipulated a small palette of pigments, including this unusual use of Egyptian blue, to create a much broader spectrum of hues.

— Marc Walton