#gold bust

[blueiscoool]

The Gold Bust of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius at The Getty

The golden bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius from Avenches, western Switzerland, is going on display at the Getty. It is the largest known bust of an emperor made of a precious metal and one of only a handful of gold busts to escape being melted down. This Marcus Aurelius bust is so rare and so valuable that is usually kept in a bank vault. The Roman Museum of Avenches keeps a copy on display instead. It has only been exhibited a dozen times, and never before in the United States.

The bust was discovered in 1939 in an excavation of a temple at Avenches’ ancient predecessor, Aventicum. Aventicum was the capital of the Helvetii and was incorporated into the Roman Empire under Augustus in 15 B.C. It was granted colony status by Vespasian in 71/2 A.D. which spurred a major urban redevelopment of the city. A large temple complex inspired by Vespasian’s Templum Pacis in Rome and dedicated to the local gods of the Helvetii and the cult of the emperor was built during this time.

Found in a sewer crossing underneath the main courtyard of the temple complex, the golden bust is 13 inches high and weighs 3.5 lbs, the equivalent of 220 gold aurei from Marcus Aurelius’ time (r. 161-180 AD). It is made from a single sheet of gold that was cold-worked in a repoussé technique. The goldsmith hammered the back of the sheet to create the features of the emperor in three dimensions — a thick head of hair, neat beard, intense eyes. Fine details were incised on to the exterior surface after the repoussé was complete. He wears a lorica plumata, a cuirass decorated with rows of feathers, around a central gorgoneion.

Only about 15 imperial portraits in precious metals and only six of them in gold made it through the gauntlet of being melted for their weight in antiquity. Hollow, portable and requiring a support to stand, this type of portrait was created to be an imago, an effigy of the emperor meant to embody his sacred authority in processions and in temples dedicated to the imperial cult. Marcus Aurelius wrote in a letter in 162/3 A.D. to the curator of the temple at Ephesos that portraits of past emperors should never be altered to look like other emperors (a common practice with marble portraits) or melted down.

“There must be no re-working of the material into likenesses of us. For as we are not in other respects solicitous of honours for ourselves, much less should we permit those of others to be transferred to us. As many of the statues as are in good preservation should be kept under their original names, but with respect to those that are too battered to be identified, perhaps their titles can be recovered from inscriptions on their bases or from records that may exist in the possession of the Council, so that our progenitors may rather receive a renewal of their honour than its extinction through the melting down of their images.”

The bust will be on display at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles from May 31st of this year through January 29th, 2024.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dungeon Meshi: The RPG

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Fibula with an Enamel Bust.

Culture: Langobardic

Date: A.D. 7th century

Period: Early Medieval

Medium: Cloisonne enamel on gold.

[cynnkk]

valefor. valefor. VALEFOR.

our favourite service top.

he's a strong, romantic and reliable demon, the perfect gentleman,, but behind close doors he reveals himself to be incredibly passionate, almost beast-like.

that's not all he is, though. I'll even go as far as to say that the characterisation is flawed. It's not as if he doesn't care, quite the opposite: he listens to you, he sees you and wants the experience to be as pleasurable as it could possibly be for the both of you.

He's aligned with you and your mind, he knows what you need even before you do.

in his arms, you'll feel safe, protected and cherished. no one can touch, not with your shining knight next to you.

He's aware that Mammon, his mighty lord, will never willingly leave your side but he wishes to be there for you, to PROTECT you the way he knows he can, the way you know he can.

it might not happen often, but when it does happen let him stand next to you, that's all he wants.

[vulcan-moon]

cringetober day 3: unnecessarily complex fit. used this as an excuse to draw normal type miku fbjd

[babanasaur]

gold dragon

Bust I did for myself of a dragon OC.

[cobbbvanth]

to non glee fans: yes, these all actually happened. to glee folks: please tell me your favourite unhinged glee performances in the tags <333

[haveihitanerve]

The Jl asking….casually… if bruce has a favorite kid and he answers without looking up, ‘oh yeah its steph’ and they're all flabbergasted because damn they didn't expect him to just admit to it that quickly and/or easily and so later clark is slowly, gently breaking the news to cass/damian that bruce admitted steph is his favorite and barry told wally who told dick and roy who told jason and they don't seem torn up about it at all and then they tell steph and she screams in frustration and throws something at a wall and yells ‘shit is it september already???” and they are utterly confused so a week later or so jason calls them over to the watchtower and goes ‘hey b who’s your favorite kid?’ and bruce looks up and makes dead eye contact with him and says ‘damian.’

[meesefr]

Commission for Bonivich!

[156l]

travel | dragon

just a casual speedpaint i wanted to do. video process below!

[tgsclassics]

Allison Hayes by Bunny Yeager.

[vynnyal]

Actually you know what, I'm gonna post this. Check it out, I'm fiddling with this PMV. Spoils the whole game ofc. And the name of the song is pure imagination by Fiona Apple!

Also I'm apparently a big fan of drawing moon laying down 😂 total count including scrapped drawings is 5 (technically 6)

[broncoburro]

ASHES TO ASHES

[cadavercrafts]

The fun thing about sculpting a One Piece character is that anatomy is NOT a concern :') Finished commission of the boi Spandam who from all the information i could gather is a very well liked gentleman who never did anything wrong. Doing this super hard cellshading paintjob was soooo relaxing, don't gotta worry 'bout nothin with this dude. No anatomy, no blending of shadows, just slam on the lines. Really fun! But the sculpt of the face was a bit of a struggle so please never make me do that again luv!

[doodlingfoolishness]

Dank Farrik Tober day 29: gateway. Cal approaches the entrance to the Tomb of Kujet on Dathomir….

[supes9]

"We know one another pretty well, don't we?"

"Not well enough to leave each other alone."