THIRTEEN ITALIAN MARBLE PROFILE MEDALLIONS

LATE 18TH 19TH CENTURY

细节

THIRTEEN ITALIAN MARBLE PROFILE MEDALLIONS
Late 18th 19th Century
Comprising: eleven from a set of twelve oval portrait medallions of Emperors inscribed respectively 'GIVLIO CESARE', 'OTTAVIANO AVGVUSTO II', 'CLAVD TIBERIO NER III', 'CAJO CALIGOLA IV', 'TIBERIO CLAVDIO V', 'DOMICIO NERONE VI', 'SERIO SVLPICIO GALBA VII', 'AVLO VITELIO IX', 'FLAVIO VESPESIANO X', 'TITO VESPESIANO XI', 'FLAVIO DOMICIANO XII'; two further rectangular portrait medallions inscribed 'SENECA' and 'M. TVL. CICERO', now mounted on a red velvet-covered board
The largest, 4 in. (10 cm.) high (13)

来源

Almost certainly acquired by John Patrick, 3rd Marquess of Bute (1847-1900) for Cardiff Castle, possibly while he was in Rome circa 1866.
Thence by descent until sold by order of the Executors and the Trustees of the Residue Funds of the 6th Marquess of Bute, in these Rooms, 3 July 1996, lot 1 (£14,950).

拍品专文

A related set of profile medallions of Roman Emperors of the Julian family features on a pair of Limoges enamel candlesticks by Jacques I Laudin, who flourished between 1627-95 (illustrated in P. Verdier, Catalogue of the Painted Enamels of the Renaissance, Baltimore, 1967, pp.389-391). Similarly displayed with the odd-numbered profiles looking to sinister and the even-numbered looking to dexter, the concept of grouping the Caesars harks back to Suetonius' De Vita Caesarum.

The source of the Imperial profiles may well be found in the engravings of the Twelve Caesars by Marcantonio Raimondi or those of Hubert Goltz (Goltzius) in his Imperatorum Imagines. A related series of bronze profile medallions in the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, was exhibited in 'Natur und Antike in der Renaissance'. Exhibition Catalogue, Frankfurt am Main, 1986, nos. 36-46.