51 Gallery
June 2017 Auction 9 Jun 2017
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EMPIRE, GOLD AUREUS OF HADRIAN, possibly by the Alphaeus Master, Rome, ca. AD 135, 7.161g, 6h. Calicó 1277. Richter 71 (this coin). Lightly toned with underlying luster. Perfectly centered and struck in high relief. With a portrait of enchanting beauty, and the work of a very skilled engraver. Undoubtedly a masterpiece of Roman portraiture. Virtually as struck. Former Gerald Hoberman (1943-2013) collection; former Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, Sotheby's 1972 (10 November) lot 85; former Joseph Durkee (1862-1898) collection; former Hyman Montagu (1844-1895) collection, Rollin & Feuardent 1896 (20 April) lot 287
This outstanding aureus sums up much of Hadrian's artistic sensibilities. He was the first Roman emperor to wear a full beard. This has usually been seen as a mark of his devotion to Greece and Greek culture, only philosophers and intellectuals being bearded at that time. By its quality of its engraving, this portrait could be attributed to the Alphaeus Master, the most renowned die engraver of the Roman period. This artist may, in fact, have been the sculptor Antonianus of Aphrodisias, whose style epitomized the Hadrianic revival of Greek classicism.
This outstanding aureus sums up much of Hadrian's artistic sensibilities. He was the first Roman emperor to wear a full beard. This has usually been seen as a mark of his devotion to Greece and Greek culture, only philosophers and intellectuals being bearded at that time. By its quality of its engraving, this portrait could be attributed to the Alphaeus Master, the most renowned die engraver of the Roman period. This artist may, in fact, have been the sculptor Antonianus of Aphrodisias, whose style epitomized the Hadrianic revival of Greek classicism.