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Material : Encaustic Painting on Wood
Width : 23 Height : 42
Found in : Hawara , Near Fayoum Oasis (1888)
Period : Roman Period
Archeologist : W . M . F . Petrie
Found in Hawara (near El Fayum Oasis) , this portrait of a young woman dates back to the Roman Period (the 1st century AD) . It was discovered by W . M . F . Petrie in 1888 . 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 . Such portraits were either placed among the bandages wrapping the deceased's mummy or on the linen shrouds .
This example of the Fayum portraits is an encaustic painting made on wood . It depicts a young aristocratic woman with a face full of impressive expressions . The sad melancholy the face suggests is made more intense with the lady's large and curved eyebrows . She is dressed in an elegant violet tunic of high taste . With delicate tones , the masterly employed light contrast highlights the beauty of the lady's face . A pair of earrings ornamented with pearls adds to the simple fashion the figure is characterized with . With an upright posture , she has an elegant chignon gracefully lifted to make visible the long , smooth , slender neck . Skillfully portrayed are the portions of each detail of the lady's face . Hanging down from her neck is a choker with small cubes tied together in one round string . Both the slender eyebrows and the large most expressive eyes add to the lady's charm .
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