Live Auction 21930Ancient to Modern Art from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Part I
A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE EMPEROR NERO
Lot 43

A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE EMPEROR NERO

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

Closed7 December 2023

Estimate

GBP 80,000–120,000

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A ROMAN MARBLE PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE EMPEROR NERO
JULIO CLAUDIAN PERIOD, CIRCA MID-1ST CENTURY A.D.
11 ½ in. (29.2 cm.) high

with Galerie Mythes et Legends, Paris, 1984.
with Royal Athena Galleries, New York, acquired from the above, 1984.
with Numismatic Fine Arts, Los Angeles, acquired from the above, 1984.
with Summa Galleries, Beverly Hills.
Allen E. Paulson (1922-2000), La Jolla, acquired from the above, mid-1980s; thence by descent.
Property from the Allen E. Paulson Living Trust; Antiquities, Christie's, New York, 3 June 2009, lot 170.
Acquired by the present owner from the above sale.

Specialist note


The emperor is here depicted with a full, fleshy face, his wavy hair brushed forward and pushed up at the forehead into a crest, with parallel locks breaking right across his forehead, and left above his right eye, with long curving sideburns, the wide unarticulated eyes beneath modelled brows, his lips pressed together, and with protruding chin.

The Emperor Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) was born 15 December 37 A.D. to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, first cousin to the Emperor Claudius, and Agrippina Minor, sister to the Emperor Caligula. Nero was later adopted by Claudius, and then succeeded him in 54 A.D. He was the fifth and final ruler of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Ancient sources such as Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio portray Nero as a profligate ruler, being accused of acts like executing his mother and celebrating while Rome was consumed by fire in 64 A.D. Facing certain execution due to the revolt of the governor Servius Sulpicius Galba and the public response to his renowned behavior, Nero committed suicide on 9 June 68 A.D.

Despite the fact that the Senate issued a damnatio memoriae following his suicide, enough portraits of Nero survive that a typological sequence has been compiled. Five types have been identified that relate to events in Nero's life. The present head corresponds to type four, which appeared in 59 A.D. and probably celebrated his quinquennium, the fifth year of his rule. Type four displays a new coiffure, with a crest of curving locks above the forehead, and a fleshier face. For another example of the type see the head from the Palatine Hill and now in the Museo Nazionale delle Terme, in D. E. E. Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, Yale, 1992, p. 138, fig. 112.