Faiyum

Faiyum (or Faiyumic or Fayyumic)
portraits. Romano-Egyptian funerary portraits of a type that have been found in various parts of Egypt but particularly in the Faiyum (El Faiyûm) area, about 80 km (50 miles) south of Cairo. They date from about the 1st to the 4th century ad and represent the head and shoulders of the deceased. The portraits are painted life-size in encaustic or tempera on wood or canvas and they were enclosed in the wrapping around the corpse's face. Several hundred examples survive (in the British Museum, London, the Louvre, Paris, and other collections). The quality varies considerably, but the finest are among the most vivid and naturalistic portraits from the ancient world, suggesting that they were done while the sitter was still alive.