High quality, slightly under life-size profile head to left of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180 A.D.) or his son Commodus (r. 180-192 A.D.) with short curls, incised moustache and slightly raised, dense cheek and chin beard, heavy upper eyelid and arched eyebrow. The fragment might have belonged to an official state monument that would have served the emperor as a means of presenting himself in public, while at the same time legitimizing his rule. The famous reliefs now in the staircase of the Palace of the Conservators in the Capitol in Rome which show the emperor Marcus Aurelius setting off to war (profectio), making sacrifices and arriving after winning a battle (adventus), give impression of such so-called "historical reliefs". Round drill hole in the top of the head. Reverse smoothed and with pick marks. Nose, chin and lips slightly worn. Reddish patina. Possible repatination with a sponge (see reverse of the object).
PROVENANCE
Formerly priv. coll. M. U., Paris, acquired in the 1980s. Carefully developed mount in wood with even a leather inset in lizard to cover the screw. The style is from the 1960s and is imitating Japanese mounts is what you would see in old collections from that period in Paris. Possible old repatination with a sponge at the back.
NOTE
The style of the beard is characteristic for the "second portrait type" of this emperor (also known as the "crown prince" or "Uffizi-Toulouse" type), which followed on directly from the portraits of the emperor as a boy and remained valid for over twenty years. The type underwent several revisions during this period as is especially apparent in the changing, that is to say ever fuller, beard. The hair rendered as short, thick clusters of curls, the high forehead, the prominent cheekbones, the full lower lip and visible narrowing of the face towards the chin on this relief head are likewise points in common with replicas of the aforementioned portrait type. That the curls at the side of the head are rather less voluminous than is usually the case may have to do with the relief's overall lack of depth. On the "second portrait type" of Marcus Aurelius, see K. Fittschen, Prinzenbildnisse antoninischer Zeit (Mainz, 1999) 22-31. The plasticity of the cheek and chin beard makes it very similar to the replica in Farnborough Hall, ibid. 24, no. B 16 pl. 36 (dated 147 to ca. 151 A.D.).