The work is a tempera or egg-based painting on a circular wooden panel or tondo with a diameter of . It depicts the Imperial family wearing sumptuous ceremonial garments. Septimius Severus and his sons are also holding sceptres and wearing gold wreaths decorated with precious stones. This image of a grey-haired Severus, with his wife and young children, emphasises the dynastic ambitions of the new emperor after the turbulent Year of the Five Emperors. The darker skin tone of Severus reflects his Libyan origins. Julia Domna has her distinctive hairstyle, crimped into parallel locks, possibly a style from her home in Syria, and perhaps a wig.