Fayum Mummy Portrait 

This Fayum Mummy Portrait, housed in the British Museum, is a striking example of the encaustic portraiture popular in Roman Egypt between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. The portrait depicts a man with piercing brown eyes and a stern expression, emphasizing realism in its depiction of his features. These portraits were often painted on wooden panels and placed over the faces of mummies to honor the deceased and provide a visual representation for the afterlife. The use of encaustic, a technique using heated wax pigments, contributes to the vividness and enduring quality of the portraits.