This Fayum portrait panel is an encaustic painting on a wooden panel, then inlaid into stone. Dating from 1st to 3rd Century Roman Egypt, it refers to the tradition of placing painted likenesses over the faces of mummified individuals. Commissions have included door panels, wall tiles inset with portraits and distressed coffered ceilings, with no coffins yet. De Ferranti’s re-creations of Fayum portraits are available to special commission.

A Fayum Portrait Panel in a Restrained Palette

The sitter appears against a pale, timeworn field with dark hair arranged close to the head and a light garment drawn across the shoulders. A necklace with a central oval detail introduces a point of ornament. Compared with the stronger reds and blue-greens elsewhere in the collection, the palette is quiet: ivory, ochre, charcoal and soft brown dominate. The rounded upper profile adds to the sense of a surviving fragment.

That restraint makes the Fayum portrait panel adaptable within interiors where the artwork sits alongside stone, plaster, timber or other low-sheen materials. The face remains the focal point, but the subdued colouring gives the surrounding scheme room to breathe. Fayum Mummy Portrait 1 provides a comparison in painted sandstone, while Fayum Mummy Portrait 3 introduces a warmer treatment. De Ferranti’s Frescoes & Religious Iconography collection offers related historic painting traditions, and the Reclining Woman in Blue Dress painted translucent marble panel provides a contemporary figurative counterpart on stone.

Placement, Format and Specification

The verified format is 30 x 30 cm, 2 cm thick, with a custom finish. Listed applications include art installations, bathrooms, doors, kitchens, residential interiors, tiles and walling. Before installation, review panel position, adjacent material, joint treatment and light level together. A portrait of this scale can work as an intimate inset or as one element in a sequence, provided visual space is retained around each face.

Project Guidance and Enquiries

For project guidance, availability, pricing, samples or further information, please use the Send E-Mail button below this description. Your enquiry will come directly to De Ferranti, and we will be pleased to discuss suitability, quantities, lead times and options for your project.