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Portrait of a Man Wearing an Ivy Wreath

A portrait of a young man with dark hair and beard painted on an irregular piece of wood. The background is gold as a wreath of ivy and necklace he wears. There are many areas where the paint has come off the surface.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A portrait of a young man with dark hair and beard painted on an irregular piece of wood. The background is gold as a wreath of ivy and necklace he wears. There are many areas where the paint has come off the surface.

Date:

Roman Period, early to mid–2nd century

Artist:

Egyptian; The Fayum, Egypt

About this artwork

This portrait belongs to a large group of similar works known as “Fayum portraits,” so-named for the region in northern Egypt in which many have been discovered. To create this man’s likeness, the artist painted a thin piece of wood with encaustic, or pigmented wax, a medium that not only gave the impression of three-dimensionality but also resisted fading and deterioration in the dry climate of Egypt. These highly individualized and lifelike portraits conveyed the wealth and status of the person depicted through clothing, jewelry, and other embellishments, such as the gold wreath of ivy worn by this man.

Status

On View, Gallery 50

Department

Arts of Africa

Cultures

Ancient Egyptian , Ancient Roman

Title

Portrait of a Man Wearing an Ivy Wreath

Places

Al Fayyum (Object made in), Ancient Egypt (Object made in), Roman Empire (Object made in)

Date

101 CE-150 CE

Medium

Lime (linden) wood, beeswax, pigments, gold, textile, and natural resin

Dimensions

39.4 × 22 × 0.2 cm (15 9/16 × 8 11/16 × 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Emily Crane Chadbourne

Reference Number

1922.4798

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/5519/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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