An important portrait statuette of Marcus Aurelius, Roman, about 169 A.D. H. 36.2 cm. Bronze. Price on request. Jean-David Cahn at Spring Masters New York‏, May 6-9, 2016

Rare representation of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius as a victorious military commander with a radiate crown. He wears an elaborately crafted hip-length coat of scale armour (lorica squamata) with a cingulum, the distinctive Roman soldier’s belt, around his waist. The pteryges, long strips of cloth or leather which descend from the lower end of the coat of armour, are adorned with a lion’s head in the centre and simple ornamental discs on the left and right. The paludamentum, a cloak worn by military commanders, is fastened at the right shoulder by a round fibula inlaid with red enamel. The Emperor probably originally held a sceptre or lance in his raised right arm. It remains uncertain whether he held an object in his left arm which is horizontal and points forwards. The statuette depicts the Emperor in the 4th portrait type, ie. of advanced age and with a fairly long curly beard that reaches up to the temples. The moustache covers the upper lip almost entirely and continues into the beard. The curls on the crown of the head are structured roughly. Large eyes with drilled pupils and framed by heavy lids as well as pronounced cheekbones characterise the broad face. Hollow cast, with carefully engraved details. Reinforced with lead in the interior. Three rays of the crown partially preserved. Beginning of right arm and half of the left arm preserved. Representations of the Emperor with radiate crown are found on various dupondius coin issues (161 A.D.: Reverse with Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus shaking hands; 171-172 A.D.: Reverse with Roma seated to left; 179 A.D.: Obverse with armoured bust to right, reverse with Victory holding a wreath and palm frond). From the middle of the 2nd century A.D. onwards, the radiate crown, an attribute of Sol invictus, was used to symbolise the idea that the Emperor was protected by the sun god. This epithet underlined his invincibility. The reign of Marcus Aurelius was marked by years of warfare against the Germanic peoples and the Parthians in the Northern Provinces and against the usurper Avidius Cassius in the East. The Emperor and his troops were successful on all fronts and Marcus Aurelius twice celebrated a Roman triumph. In the light of the above, the creation of the statue discussed here can be understood as evidence for a mobile cult of the Emperor which aimed at asserting his presence both in the individual provinces and amongst the Roman troops who were stationed throughout the Empire – a programmatic manifesto similar in character to that of the erection of the Column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome.

Provenance: Formerly Collection Léon Rodrigues-Ely (1924-1973), Marseille, France. Rodrigues-Ely, a passionate collector of ancient art, was the heir of a French family which dominated the shipping business from Bordeaux and Marseille to America in the 18th and 19th centuries.