Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath

The artwork

The gold in this portrait was laid on when the panel was already in place: the background was gilded after the mummy's bandages had fixed it over the young woman's face. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The wreath of gold leaves, the crescent-moon pendant, the pale face with rosy cheeks.
• A touch of golden light in a bedroom or a hallway.
• A gift for anyone who loves ancient jewellery.

The young woman lived in Egypt between AD 120 and 140, when the country was a province of Rome. Her hairstyle is the one in fashion at the time of the emperor Hadrian, with the addition of corkscrew curls on the forehead, perhaps a local custom. Her face was painted on a thin wooden panel which, when she died, was placed over the mummy's face. These are the portraits we call Fayum portraits, after the region of Egypt where many were found.

The face is painted in thick cream-coloured layers, with pink on the cheeks, the nose and around the eyes, and the shadows rise from a dark ground. The wreath and the necklace are made with real gold leaf; from the necklace hangs a lunula, a pendant shaped like a crescent moon. The original is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and is on show in the exhibition Il potere del ritratto. Egitto e Roma. I volti del Fayum, at the Museo dell'Ara Pacis in Rome from 5 November 2026 to 2 May 2027.

In a bedroom or a hallway the gold of the wreath catches the light. It is a precious gift for a woman who loves jewellery, or for anyone passionate about Egypt and Rome.

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