Portrait bust of Faustina the Elder
Medium:Marble
Geography: Attributed to Laurentum, Italy
Date: about
138-141 AD
Period: Roman Imperial period, reign of Antoninus Pius
Object number: 933.27.2
Gallery Location:Eaton Gallery of Rome: Imperial Roman portraiture, busts
DescriptionFaustina the Elder
Faustina the Elder was the wife of the emperor Antoninus Pius (ruled 138-161 AD). This magnificent portrait of her clearly projects the image of imperial grandeur.
Object History: Purchased from Sotheby's & Co, London, England, at auction sale, July 27, 1933, lot. 121. The bust is said to have been found by Prince Chigi in the ruins of the imperial palace at Laurentum. About 1800 it became part of the collection of Thomas Hope, Deepdene, Surrey, England. It was sold, with the other four "Hope" busts (Lucius Verus, Septimius Severus, Octavius, Nero) to Viscount Cawdray, Paddockhurst, Worth, Sussex at auction at Christie, Manson and Woods, July 23, 1917, lot 219. The ROM purchased the five Hope-Cawdray busts at Sotheby's, July 27, 1933.
