FAYUM PORTRAIT

any of the funerary portraits dating from the Roman period (1st to the 4th century) found in Egyptian tombs throughout Egypt but particularly at the oasis of al-Fayyum. Depictions of the head and bust of the deceased, the portraits are executed either on wooden tablets (about 17 by 9 inches [about 43 by 23 cm]) and placed under the bandages covering the mummy's face, or on the linen shroud itself. They are painted in tempera or in pigments mixed with liquid beeswax.