Cameo: Julio-Claudian Imperial Portrait (30 BCE–54 CE): Art, History and Details

Cameo: Julio-Claudian Imperial Portrait (30 BCE–54 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Cameo: Julio-Claudian Imperial Portrait
• Date: 30 BCE–54 CE
• Culture: Italy, Rome, Early Imperial period
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: travertine
• Dimensions: Overall: 4.6 x 6.4 cm (1 13/16 x 2 1/2 in.)
• Collection: GR - Roman
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1991.154

A detail from the museum

The Julio-Claudian family included the first five emperors of Rome: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Safani Gallery (New York, N.Y.). The Art of Rome: An Exhibition of Sculpture, Wall Paintings, Bronzes, Jewelry, and Glasses of the Roman Period, Dec. 2, 1983-Jan. 14, 1984. Safani Gallery, New York, N.Y. 1983.
• Hausmann, Ulrich. "Bemerkungen zum "Dritten" Portrat-Typus des Tiberius" in Numismatica e antichità classiche, Quaderni ticinesi, Vol. 14.1985. p. 211-225.
• Henig, Martin. The Content Family Collection of Ancient Cameos. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 1990.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.