Collection record · Objects & craft
Cameo: Julio-Claudian Imperial Portrait
The collection record classifies this work as sculpture. It is dated 30 BCE–54 CE. Recorded culture or place: Italy, Rome, Early Imperial period.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Cameo: Julio-Claudian Imperial Portrait
- Date
- 30 BCE–54 CE
- Culture / origin
- Italy, Rome, Early Imperial period
- Materials and technique
- travertine
- Dimensions
- Overall: 4.6 x 6.4 cm (1 13/16 x 2 1/2 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1991.154
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
This fragment of a cameo depicts a man wearing a laurel crown and facing right. Roman cameo gems were made by carving through layers of banded semiprecious stones to create an image, here a portrait in off-white with a tan background. Scholars have identified this portrait as various members of the Julio-Claudian imperial family based on the laurel crown and style of the portrait.
The close-cropped wavy hair, thinly arched brow, aquiline nose, and rounded chin are similar to depictions of many Julio-Claudian princes and emperors who can only be differentiated by inscriptions. The imperial family was represented with very similar features to support a unified dynastic image.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · John L. Severance Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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