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Encaustic painting involves mixing pigments with beeswax and was first used by Greek painters in the 5th–4th centuries B.C. Though ancient texts are hard to interpret and Egyptian mummy portraits are the only surviving examples, modern studies have offered some insight into the technique.
Artists began by sketching on wood panels treated with glue or wax. Beeswax mixed with pigment was applied either hot or cold. Hot wax could be pure or mixed with resin, oil, or egg, and was painted on quickly with brushstrokes—thin for backgrounds, thick for facial features. Once cooled, tools blended the wax for smooth transitions.
Cold wax required emulsification, often with egg or oil, forming what ancient sources called "Punic wax." This version dried more slowly, allowing for more control. Mummy portraits without tool marks likely used this method. While modern encaustic artists often use heated tools, ancient painters probably did not.
Though similar in form to another portrait (09.181.2), this one appears to be later, showing a man with dark hair, large eyes, tawny skin, and a thick beard. His forward-facing pose and the masterful use of light and shadow add depth and realism.
Contemporary Cinema
Title: Portrait of a thin-faced, bearded man
Period: Roman Period
Date: A.D. 160–180
Geography: From Egypt
Medium: Encaustic on limewood
Dimensions: H. 38.1 x W. 21.6 cm (15 x 8 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1909
Object Number: 09.181.1
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Flinck studied as a pupil in Rembrandt’s studio and, according to one early biographer, had so internalized his teacher’s method within a year that his paintings were sold as the master’s own. This tronie, or study of an interesting face, reveals Flinck’s debt to Rembrandt in its use of flamboyant costume and attentiveness to the sitter’s craggy facial features. However, by the time he made this work, Flinck had distinguished himself by developing a much smoother manner of painting than Rembrandt, one that would serve him well as a society portraitist.
Contemporary Cinema
Title: Bearded Man with a Velvet Cap
Artist: Govert Flinck (Dutch, Cleve 1615–1660 Amsterdam)
Date: 1645
Medium: Oil on wood
Dimensions: 23 3/4 x 20 5/8 in. (60.3 x 52.4 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Bequest of Collis P. Huntington, 1900
Object Number: 25.110.27
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Hans Maler worked as a portrait painter in the mining town of Schwaz, just east of Innsbruck. The Schwaz silver works belonged to the most prosperous in Europe, and Sebastian Andorfer, who is shown in this portrait at the age of forty-eight, was one of its leading officials. As Silberbrenner (refiner of silver) he was responsible for guaranteeing the purity of Schwaz silver, a major source of income for the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand and the Fugger family of Augsburg, whose likenesses Hans Maler also painted.
Contemporary Cinema
Sebastian Andorfer (1469–1537)
Artist: Hans Maler (German, Ulm, born ca. 1480, died ca. 1526–29 Schwaz (?))
Date: 1517
Medium: Oil on Swiss stone pine
Dimensions: 17 x 14 1/8 in. (43.2 x 35.9 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931
Object Number: 32.100.33
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The official United States Army regulations of 1861 stated that all soldiers’ hair be “kept short, and beard neatly trimmed.” However, when Abraham Lincoln let his beard grow after his election victory in November 1860, many Union soldiers also opted to leave their whiskers uncut. Those that preferred a shave and haircut looked to their fellow soldiers or civilian camp followers for help, as few traveled with straight blades, scissors, or mirrors. This occupational portrait of a soldier getting a shave is among the only known likenesses of a Civil War barber at work.
Contemporary Cinema
Title: [Union Soldier and Barber]
Artist: Unknown (American)
Date: 1861–65
Medium: Tintype with applied color
Dimensions: Plate: 11.6 × 9.2 cm (4 9/16 × 3 5/8 in.)
Case: 12 × 9.9 cm (4 3/4 × 3 7/8 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Purchase, Joyce F. Menschel Gift, 2012
Object Number: 2012.326
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This is one of the earliest surviving examples of a full face mask (somen). It is also very rare for being modeled on a specific character from Noh drama: the happy old man (okina) with distinctive white eyebrows and beard.
Contemporary Cinema
Mask (Sōmen)
Date: possibly 15th century
Culture: Japanese
Medium: Iron, lacquer, hair, textile (silk)
Dimensions: H. 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm); W. 5 13/16 in. (14.8 cm); D. 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm); Wt. 9.9 oz. (281 g)
Classification: Armor Parts-Masks
Credit Line: Gift of Bashford Dean, 1914
Object Number: 14.100.33
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This lifesize copper alloy head likely depicts a king or elite figure, as suggested by its fine craftsmanship, expensive material, and naturalistic features. The detailed beard, mustache, and turban hint at high status, while the individualized face may indicate it is a rare portrait. Once thought solid, the head was found to have a clay core and metal supports—an early example of hollow lost-wax casting. A square peg at the neck suggests it was mounted on a separate body, possibly of a different material.
Contemporary Cinema
Title: Head of a ruler
Period: Early Bronze Age
Date: ca. 2300–2000 BCE
Geography: Mesopotamia
Medium: Copper alloy
Dimensions: 13 9/16 × 8 3/8 × 9 3/16 in. (34.4 × 21.3 × 23.3 cm)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1947
Object Number: 47.100.80
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Maharaja Sardar Singh (r. 1851–72) is captured here in an extraordinary portrait whose creator was undoubtedly aware of the inroads photography was making among royal patrons. At first glance, the work seems one of almost photographic realism. However, Chotu has carefully manipulated the painting's elements to play two and three-dimensional forms against one another, achieving a slightly surreal effect that is heightened by the composition's commanding symmetry, even down to the cleft beard and the bosses on the shield. The regularity is offset by the asymmetry of the pleated shawl and garment and by the fantastical turban, which is like some postmodern assemblage crowning the brooding visage.
Contemporary Cinema
Title: Maharaja Sardar Singh of Bikaner
Artist: Chotu
Date: ca. 1860–70
Culture: India (Rajasthan, Bikaner)
Medium: Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions: 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1996
Object Number: 1996.100.7
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This mold-made ceramic figure depicts a bearded, mustachioed male wearing a ballgame yoke around his waist to protect him from the hard, solid rubber ball used in play. There are cylindrical ear ornaments in his ears and, beneath his arm, a batonlike object perhaps related to the local incarnation of the ballgame. The rules and manner in which the Mesoamerican ballgame was played varied among contemporary sites and evolved through time. Surviving evidence suggests human sacrifice was a frequent outcome, but the game may also have been played for other purposes, such as sport. The people of ancient Veracruz interacted with people from other Mesoamerican cultures, and this Nopiloa figure displays motifs commonly found in Maya art. Knotted ties, like those around this player's wrist and neck, in Maya pictorial language connote captured prisoners. A motif similar to the Maya mat, a symbol of rulership, appears on the flanged headdress of the ballplayer. Thirdly, like Maya figurines of this type, the body of this figure is a whistle, a musical instrument used in ritual and ceremony.
Contemporary Cinema
Title: Ball Player
Date: 7th–10th century
Geography: Mexico, Mesoamerica, Veracruz
Culture: Nopiloa
Medium: Ceramic, paint, slip
Dimensions: H. 10 1/2 × W. 6 5/8 × D. 4 3/16 in. (26.7 × 16.8 × 10.6 cm)
Classification: Ceramics-Sculpture
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1989
Object Number: 1989.28