JULIO-CLAUDIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN GLASS CAMEO PORTRAIT OF EMPEROR TIBERIUS
JULIO-CLAUDIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.
1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) long

Provenance

Private Collection, New York.
A New York Private Collector; Antiquities, Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1981, lot 281.

Literature

C. Weiss, "Octavian als Knabe, Divus Augustus und Tiberius" in Numismatica e Antichità Classiche: Quaderni Ticiensi 34, Lugano, 2005, pp. 239-241, no. 13.
"Le Verre Antique: Dans l'intimite des collectionneurs" in Artpassions, no. 9, Geneva, 2007, p. 63.

Lot Essay

According to Weiss, this type of cameo belongs to a series of gems with imperial portraits created to celebrate a new emperor and legitimize the passage of power from his predecessor (op. cit. pp. 239-241). As such, she considers this to be a posthumous portrait of Tiberius created during the reign of his nephew, Claudius (reign 41-54 A.D.). The oak wreath crown (corona civica) worn by Tiberius in this cameo is typical of Julio-Claudian Imperial portraiture.

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