A Mummy Portrait of a Young Man, Tempera on Wood, Egypt, 3rd Quarter of the 4th Century A.D.

painted on wood, wearing a white chiton with red clavi, his oval face with short beard and moustache, full lips, and large eyes, the hair falling in long straight locks over the forehead.

reputedly from er-Rubayat
Theodor Graf (1840-1903), Vienna, 2nd Collection
Flinker Collection, Vienna (Dorotheum, Vienna, Kunstauktion 417: Gemälde alter und neuerer Meister, November 24th, 1932, no. 31, illus.)

Klaus Parlasca, Mumienporträts und verwandte Denkmäler, Wiesbaden, 1966, p. 28, note 84, and p. 243, no. 232
Klaus Parlasca, Ritratti di mummie (Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto Greco-Romano, Serie B - Volume III), Rome, 1980, p. 50, no. 607, pl. 144,1
R. M. Bonacasa Carra, "Statua di letterato del Museo Greco-Romano di Alessandria," in Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano: studi in onore di Achille Adriani, Rome, 1983-1984, p. 134, no. 13
Barbara Borg, Mumienporträts. Chronologie und kultureller Kontext, Mainz, 1996, pp. 74 and 105

Areas of repaint on upper corners of background, along the edges of the tunic, and in two small vertical areas below neck, smaller areas of repaint in hair, across proper right eyebrow, center of forehead, and along proper right side of nose
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The back of the panel is stamped with the purple circular seal "Sammlung Theodor Graf," inscribed in blue pencil with the number "608315" or "600315," in lead pencil with the number "49426," in purple pencil with the number "126," and also in purple pencil with a line of one or two barely decipherable German(?) words followed by a series of digits; there are remains of glue from now missing old labels.

For a related portrait of a young man by the same hand and with the same provenance see Dorotheum, Vienna, November 24th, 1932, no. 34 (Parlasca, op. cit., 1980, p. 50, no. 608, pl. 144,2).

The Austrian art dealer Theodor von Graf "was in business in Cairo and Vienna, and many very important finds passed through his hands... He acquired a collection of about 300 Romano-Egyptian portrait panels in 1887, 90 of which formed a travelling exhibition prior to sale in Europe and America; the rest were sold after his death by his heirs" (W. Dawson and Eric P. Uphill, Who was Who in Egyptology, 3rd ed., London, 1995, p. 173).