Portrait of the Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus; and Portrait of the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus

Early records of series of Roman Emperors can be found in humanist Antwerp. Frans Floris, Otto van Veen, and in the early 17th Century, Rubens and David Teniers I are known to have painted several series.

The series to which the present platters belong, began in all likelyhood with Julius Caesar and ended with Commodus. The latter would represent an obvious terminus, being the last of the Antonine dynasty and the immediate precursor to the internecine civil wars of the 3rd Century. The only other traditional stopping point is the death of Domitian and the consequent end of the Flavian dynasty: the last of Suetonius' twelve Caesars. The series must have been numbered chronologically, possibly following engravings.