Elderly Man Flanked by Egyptian Gods

The artwork

Above this elderly man's shoulders, drawn in black ink, are two Egyptian gods: on one side the falcon Horus, on the other a ram wearing a crown. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The wrinkled face, the white beard, the light tunic with dark stripes.
• A rare and mysterious portrait, perfect in a study or a library.
• A gift for a grandfather, or for anyone who loves ancient Egypt.

This man lived in Egypt around AD 250, when the country had been part of the Roman Empire for almost three centuries. It is one of the last portraits we call Fayum portraits, after the region of Egypt where many were found: around the middle of the third century the custom died out.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which holds the original, explains who the two gods are. Above the left shoulder is Horus, the falcon god of the sky, before a horned altar. Above the right is a ram wearing the atef crown, a god of the underworld: perhaps the soul of the sun god Ra by night, perhaps the god Khnum. The sky on one side, the underworld on the other. This panel was not hidden among the bandages: it is thick and has five holes, because it was tied onto the mummy or onto the coffin. It is painted in tempera, colours dissolved in glue, on sycamore wood coated with a layer of white gesso, which makes the tones lighter and matt.

In a study or a library it brings home an old man with his gods, at the end of a tradition that lasted three centuries. It is a gift for a grandfather, or for anyone who loves the mysteries of Egypt.

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