Panel with Painted Image of Isis

Romano-Egyptian painted panel of the Egyptian goddess Isis in tempera (animal glue) on a fig wood panel. This pairs with the Serapis panel ([74.AP.21](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/7145/), with which it is currently displayed) having been cut from the same piece of wood and painted by the same hand. Together with that panel, it originally served as the right door (to Serapis’s left) of a small devotional shrine, the sides and back of which are now missing. The panel’s good surface condition indicates it must have been protected by its closed position facing inward. It has been Carbon 14 dated to the first century BC-AD, but its stylistic date of around 180-200 indicates a secondary use may be possible for the original wooden panel at the time it was fabricated into two doors.

Isis was a principal and original goddess of Egypt, wife/sister of Osiris and mother of Horus. Having resurrected Osiris and given birth to their son Horus, Isis was seen as a royal goddess possessing supernatural powers over motherhood, the land, and fertility in general. By the Hellenistic period, the worship of Isis had spread across the Mediterranean and after the annexation of Egypt by Rome following the battle of Actium in 31 BC, Isis was worshipped throughout the Roman Empire. When united with Serapis, as here, the divine couple reflected the religious needs of a combined Greek and Egyptian culture beginning in the Ptolemaic period (323-30 BC) and continuing into Roman Egypt (AD 30-330). Their worship was centered at the Serapeum in Alexandria, revered as the traditional home of Isis.

Isis is presented in three-quarter view, eyes upturned and gazing outward (in contrast to the direct gazes of contemporary human mummy portraits to which this is stylistically related). Isis’s many roles are communicated by insignia of identification and rank. She is crowned by a uraeus (sacred snake conferring royalty) supported by the horns of Hathor, a maternal goddess whose attributes are often taken over by Isis. In front of this is a diadem supporting olive leaves extending down each side of her head. The entirety is veiled by a transparent cloth outlined in white and ocher tempera. Framed by luxuriant black curls falling thickly to her shoulders, Isis’s pale complexion (in contrast to the ruddy complexion of Serapis) is highlighted by touches of pink and red on her cheeks and lips.