Arcadópolis
Portrait of a Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath
Fayum mummy portraits, 120–140
What you see
The young woman faces us, her head and shoulders set against a field of gold. A fringe of small curls covers her brow beneath a wreath of gilded leaves. Her large brown eyes meet the viewer. She wears pearl earrings, a necklace of green and white beads, a gold one with a pendant, and a purple tunic edged in gold.
The gold spreads in an uneven patch around head and shoulders; beyond it lies the dark wood, streaked with vertical grain. The skin is pale and smooth, with gray shadows under the eyes and chin. Notice the pearls dangling from each ear and the contrast between the purple of the tunic and the green of the necklace.
About Fayum mummy portraits
The Fayum portraits are some 900 portraits painted on wooden panels in Roman Egypt between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD by artists whose names we do not know. They were placed over the face of the mummy, held in place by the linen wrappings, and painted in encaustic (beeswax mixed with pigments) or tempera with striking realism. They are one of the largest groups of panel paintings to survive from classical antiquity, and their frontal gaze foreshadows icon painting.
More by Fayum mummy portraits
Portrait of the Boy Eutyches
Portrait of a Young Woman in Red
Funerary Portrait of a Young Girl
Portrait of a Thin-Faced, Bearded Man
Portrait of a Man with a Mole on His Nose
Portrait of a Thin-Faced Man
Funerary Portrait of a Woman
Funerary Panel of a Man
Elderly Man Flanked by Egyptian Gods
Mummy with an Inserted Panel Portrait of a Youth
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