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Material : Encaustic Painting on Wood
Width : 21 Height : 38
Found in : Hawara , Near Fayum Oasis (1888)
Period : ROMAN PERIOD
Belonged_to: Demos
Archeologist : W . M . F . PETRIE
Found in Hawara by W . M . F . PETRIE , this portrait of a young woman dates back to the Roman Period (late 1st century AD) . At this site , the panels were made of cedar and were more slender to be placed easily among the bandages wrapping the deceased's body . A great corpus of portraits painted on wood known as the "Fayum portraits" was made during the Roman imperial era . The Roman taste had a particular interest in making portraits that stand for iconographic realism . Such a tendency became the most successful expression of the reciprocal penetration of Egyptian and Roman cultures that were far more integrated in death than in life . Portraits were either placed among the bandages wrapping the deceased's mummy or on the linen shrouds .
Found in 1888 , this example of the Fayum encaustic paintings made on wood depicts a young woman called Demos , said to meet death at the age of twenty four during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) . Archeologists were able to know the lady's identity from some informative carvings they discovered on a piece of cloth found near the woman's bust . She gives a serious , severe , and dissatisfied gaze with her eyes . She wears a violet tunic with delicate tones . The hairstyle appears typically faithful to that one prevailing at that period . Worth admiring is the woman's hair which is simply fastened with a gilded pin . Highly admired is the fine green necklace of emeralds and gold with three strings hanging down from her long smooth neck . She also wears a pair of earrings from which pearls freely dangle .
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