Woman with a Green Necklace

The artwork

The panel is broken at the bottom, but the gaze is intact: this woman has been looking straight at us for almost two thousand years. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The black curly hair, the pearl earrings, the necklace of green stones.
• An intense face that gives character to a bedroom or a study.
• A gift for someone dear, or for anyone who loves ancient art.

We do not know her name. She lived in Egypt when the country was a province of Rome, between the first and third centuries AD. Wealthy families then had the faces of their loved ones painted on wooden panels a few millimetres thick, with colours mixed into wax or dissolved in glue. At death the panel was placed over the mummy's face among the bandages. These are the portraits we call Fayum portraits, after the region of Egypt where many were found.

Such thin wood is fragile: that is why many portraits have come down to us broken or worn at the edges, like this one. The painter, however, put all his attention into the face. The black curly hair frames the large eyes, the pearls hang from her ears and the necklace of green stones stands out against the dark garment.

In a bedroom or a study it brings home a woman who has crossed the centuries. It is a gift for someone dear, or for anyone who loves portraits that seem alive.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass