Striking 2,000-year-old mummy portrait sells for $889,000


By
Jacqui Palumbo

Updated Feb 6, 2026
Detail of a Fayum funerary portrait that will go up for sale at Sotheby's New York as part of its Old Masters sales.
Detail of a Fayum funerary portrait that will go up for sale at Sotheby's New York as part of its Old Masters sales. 
Courtesy Sotheby's 

A funerary portrait from Roman Egypt, featuring a strikingly modern-looking male subject with piercing hazel eyes and graying hair, sold for more than double its high estimate on Thursday during Sotheby’s Masters Week sales in New York.

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