Elderly Woman with a Gold Wreath

The artwork

Almost all Fayum portraits show young people, because people died young back then: this grey-haired lady is one of the few elderly women to have come down to us. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The grey curls, the gold wreath, the strong, tanned face.
• A portrait full of dignity, lovely in a living room or a study.
• A gift for a grandmother or a mother.

She lived in Egypt between AD 100 and 125, when the country was a province of Rome. Her face was painted with colours mixed into wax on a thin limewood panel, which was then cut to size and 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.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which holds the original, describes a discovery: by comparing the age of the mummies with that of the portraits, scholars found that most were painted when the person had died or was about to die, perhaps to be carried in the funeral procession before mummification. This lady does not follow the fashion of the imperial court. Her grey hair falls in loose curls, her face is strong, bony and tanned, and she wears only earrings, like other elderly women portrayed on these panels. The reddish tunic and the likeness to male portraits from the time of the emperor Trajan help to date her.

In a living room or a study it brings home the dignity of a woman who lived a long life. It is a gift for anyone who loves real faces, the ones time has made more beautiful.

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