Detail of a Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2008

Young Woman with a Gilded Wreath
120-140 AD
Encaustic on wood

Accession # 09.181.7

This panel was not painted in the areas where the mummy wrappings would have covered the edges. Once in the wrappings, the background was gilded, and a gilded line was drawn to frame the lower end of the painting. Gold leaf was also used for the wreath and the lower necklace, a gold chain with a crescent (called a lunula). The woman's face and neck are thickly painted in cream, heightened with pink on the cheeks and nose and around the eyes. The shades are built up from a dark ground.

The woman's oval face, large eyes, and slightly open lips give the portrait considerable presence. Venus rings on her neck call attention to her youthful plump beauty. The hairstyle is typical for the period of the Emperor Hadrian, except for the corkscrew locks around the forehead, which may be a regional or personal style.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.