Medallion with the Portrait of a Woman

This is one of a series of medallions in which the portrait has been made with a brush in chiaroscuro on the rear and then covered with gold leaf, standing out against a dark background. These glass medallions may have been used for a cemetery, portraying the deceased on the loculus, or they may have been set in metal frames and used as jewellery.
Stylistically, this specimen is related to contemporary portraits of el Fayyum (Dime, Egypt) and with Alexandrian portraiture in general. The facial features are drawn with intense realism, as is the hairstyle – which is typical of the Severus family of Rome – which suggests the sitter may be Marcia Otacilia Severa, as the Parisian antiques dealer from whom d’Azeglio purchased the medallion in 1869 maintained.