Portrait of the Boy Eutyches

The artwork

Below the neckline of his tunic, in Greek, his name is written: Eutyches, freedman of Kasanios. This boy had been a slave, and his master had set him free. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The calm face of a young boy, the brown hair, the white tunic with its purple stripe.
• A serene portrait, perfect in a bedroom or a study.
• A gift for a boy, or for anyone who loves true stories from antiquity.

Eutyches lived in Egypt between AD 100 and 150, when the country was part of the Roman Empire. His face was painted with colours mixed into wax on a wooden panel which, when he died, was placed over the mummy's face and held in place by the bandages. The beliefs were Egyptian, but he is dressed and groomed like a Roman. It is one of the portraits we call Fayum portraits, after the region of Egypt where many were found.

The inscription is his small mystery. The first words are clear: "Eutyches, freedman of Kasanios", that is, a slave freed by his master Kasanios. Scholars disagree about the rest: it can be read as "son of Herakleides Evandros" or as "Herakleides, son of Evandros". And the last word, "I signed", could be the painter's signature, unusual on these portraits, or that of the man who acted as witness when the boy was freed.

The original is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a gift of the American philanthropist Edward S. Harkness in 1918.

In a bedroom or a study it brings home the quiet gaze of a boy from almost two thousand years ago. It is a gift for a boy, or for anyone who loves the mysteries of history.

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