Cleveland Museum of Art

Cameo: Julio-Claudian Imperial Portrait

Date

30 BCE–54 CE

Medium

travertine

Culture

Italy, Rome, Early Imperial period

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This fragment of a cameo depicts a man wearing a laurel crown and facing right. Roman cameo gems were made by carving through layers of banded semiprecious stones to create an image, here a portrait in off-white with a tan background. Scholars have identified this portrait as various members of the Julio-Claudian imperial family based on the laurel crown and style of the portrait. The close-cropped wavy hair, thinly arched brow, aquiline nose, and rounded chin are similar to depictions of many Julio-Claudian princes and emperors who can only be differentiated by inscriptions. The imperial family was represented with very similar features to support a unified dynastic image. The Julio-Claudian family included the first five emperors of Rome: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

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