Antiquities of the Garden: A Collector's Living Ancient World

Provenance:

Private Collection (C.F.C), England, 1950s-1963; thence by descent (I.C.), England, by 20 February 1963.

Ariadne Galleries, New York, acquired prior to 3 December 2014.

Imposing in scale, this portrait head reflects the enduring influence of Julio-Claudian imperial imagery, drawing in particular upon the portraiture of Augustus (Gaius Octavius, r. 27 B.C.–A.D. 14), whose portraiture established the visual language of the early principate and succeeding dynasties. Augustan imagery was carefully calibrated to project stability and authority, with a carefully measured idealization shaping imperial representation throughout. While maintaining key elements of this tradition, such as the almond-shaped eyes and the characteristic fringe of comma-shaped locks, certain features of the present head depart from canonical imperial portraits produced in Rome, notably the deeply set eyes, defined nasolabial folds, and firmly articulated lips.

The slight central forking of the hair above the forehead recalls the arrangement seen in Augustus’ Prima Porta type, though here rendered with a more pronounced and rhythmic articulation rather than finely differentiated locks. Likewise, the schematic treatment of the cheeks and jaw contrasts with the plastically nuanced surfaces characteristic of court production. Such variations could indicate a provincial context, where local workshops adapted official imperial prototypes with varying degrees of fidelity and interpretive flair. The simplification of facial planes and the more graphic treatment of the coiffure find parallels in Julio-Claudian portraiture from the eastern provinces, particularly at sites such as Ephesus and Pergamon.

Within this framework, the present head may be understood as a provincial rendering of an Augustanizing portrait type (Augustanizing to the extent that it has been identified as Augustus in earlier inventories), derived from an official model but translated into a more structurally simplified idiom, while retaining, and indeed emphasizing, the enduring authority of Julio-Claudian visual traditions.