A ROMAN AMETHYST RING STONE WITH PORTRAITS OF THE CO-EMPERORS SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS AND CARACALLA

CIRCA 208-211 A.D.

Details

A ROMAN AMETHYST RING STONE WITH PORTRAITS OF THE CO-EMPERORS SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS AND CARACALLA
Circa 208-211 A.D.
The convex oval stone engraved with confronted profile busts of the co-regents, each wearing a laurel wreath in his hair, the ties falling behind, Septimius Severus idealized with his long beard rendered as thick ringlets, Caracalla with his characteristic short curly beard and heavy furrowed brow
.23/32 in. (1.8 cm.) wide

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Frank Sternberg AG, Zürich, 16 November 1992, lot 563.

Lot Essay

In order to establish his dynastic successor, the Emperor Septimius Severus declared his son Caracalla co-Emperor when he was still only a youth. Here depicted with a beard, this gem must have been created toward the end of Septimius's life just before Caracalla became sole emperor. For a similar example in sardonyx now in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, see no. 579 in Richter, Engraved Gems of the Romans.

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