Woman in a Pink Tunic

The artwork

A bright pink tunic and two black stripes on the shoulders: with these colours a woman of Roman Egypt told everyone who she was. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The large eyes, the dark curls, the pearl earrings and the pink tunic.
• A warm and modern portrait that brings colour to a bedroom or a sitting room.
• A gift for a woman who loves art.

She was painted in Egypt between AD 170 and 200, in tempera, colours mixed with animal glue, on a panel of sycomore, the fig tree that grows along the Nile. She comes from Er-Rubayat, a village in the Fayum, the region of Egypt that gave its name to all portraits like this one, painted to be placed over the face of the mummy.

The painter worked finely on the face, with very thin lines for the eyebrows, the lashes and the highlights on the cheeks, and with broad strokes on the garment. Those colours had a precise meaning. According to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, which holds the panel, the pink of the tunic, made with madder, recalls the costly purple worn by the richest women; the black stripes, the clavi, were associated with Roman citizenship.

In a bedroom it brings home a woman of eighteen centuries ago, proud of her colours. It is a gift for anyone who loves ancient art.

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