Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXII 7-8 Oct 2021
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Crispina (wife of Commodus) AV Aureus. Rome, AD 180-183. CRISPINA AVGVSTA, draped bust to right, hair arranged in chignon / VENVS•FELIX, Venus seated to left, holding Cupid and sceptre; dove standing to left below chair. RIC III 287 (Commodus) corr. (Cupid, not Victory); C. 39; BMCRE 49 (Commodus), pl. 92, 5 (same dies); Biaggi 1034; Calicó 2377b corr. (Cupid, not Victory). 7.24g, 20mm, 12h.
Near Mint State; a wonderful portrait. Rare.
Ex 51 Gallery, 29 April 2015, lot 91 (hammer: EUR 55,000);
Ex Maison Palombo, Auction 13, 13 December 2014, lot 84 (hammer: 60,000 CHF);
Ex Sir Arthur Evans Collection, Ars Classica, Auction XVII, 3 October 1934, lot 876;
Ex J. G. Sandeman Collection, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 16 June 1911, lot 568;
Ex G. Sparkes Collection, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 2-3 February 1880, lot 389.
At first glance this sensually draped portrait of the goddess Venus - associated with beauty, love and sexuality - seems an appropriate reverse type for a coin minted in the name of Bruttia Crispina, the young wife of Commodus. From an illustrious aristocratic family closely associated with the imperial family since the time of Trajan and able to count her father as well as maternal and paternal grandfathers as former consuls, she was reportedly exceptionally beautiful as her youthful profile and intricate, elegant hairstyle in this portrait suggest.
Crispina was fourteen when she was married to Commodus, then Caesar and around two years her senior, in AD 178. The first legitimate biological son to be born to an emperor since Vespasian, Commodus succeeded his father as sole ruler in 180, whereupon Crispina was given the title of Augusta. Conspicuous on the Roman coinage, Antonine empresses followed the extensive Hadrianic issues in the name of his wife Sabina - a significant divergence from the Flavian and Trajanic coinage, on which the imperial women only had a token presence.
Beyond her youthful good looks the similarities with Venus, the mythical mother of Aeneas (and by extension the Roman people), quickly begin to diminish. 'Felix' can mean both 'lucky' or 'fruitful' - a title highlighting Venus's association with fertility and prosperity as also represented by the presence of Cupid, her son, and a dove in her portrait. Neither of these traits characterise either Commodus' reign or Bruttia's life: Commodus, a megalomaniac, grew ever more capricious and often had prominent citizens tortured or murdered in horrific ways; Crispina meanwhile remained childless, causing a dynastic succession crisis. The marriage was plagued by Commodus' extravagant extramarital indiscretions, yet in 182 it was Crispina who was (falsely) accused of adultery and banished by the emperor to the island of Capri, divorced a year later, and eventually strangled on his orders. The Historia Augusta notes her adulterous behaviour as the cause, but historians often associate her demise with implication in her sister-in-law Lucilla's plot to assassinate Commodus.
This rare and marvellously well-preserved aureus has a long pedigree and was once in the collection of Sir Arthur Evans, the British archaeologist who led the dig at Knossos on Crete which transformed our understanding of Minoan civilisation. Evans played a major role in the histories of two of this country's most esteemed museums: as Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum from 1884-1908, he gave that institution its world-renowned archaeological character, while as President of the Society of Antiquaries and a Trustee of the British Museum during the First World War he successfully fought the War Office who wanted to commandeer the museum for the Air Board.
Near Mint State; a wonderful portrait. Rare.
Ex 51 Gallery, 29 April 2015, lot 91 (hammer: EUR 55,000);
Ex Maison Palombo, Auction 13, 13 December 2014, lot 84 (hammer: 60,000 CHF);
Ex Sir Arthur Evans Collection, Ars Classica, Auction XVII, 3 October 1934, lot 876;
Ex J. G. Sandeman Collection, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 16 June 1911, lot 568;
Ex G. Sparkes Collection, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 2-3 February 1880, lot 389.
At first glance this sensually draped portrait of the goddess Venus - associated with beauty, love and sexuality - seems an appropriate reverse type for a coin minted in the name of Bruttia Crispina, the young wife of Commodus. From an illustrious aristocratic family closely associated with the imperial family since the time of Trajan and able to count her father as well as maternal and paternal grandfathers as former consuls, she was reportedly exceptionally beautiful as her youthful profile and intricate, elegant hairstyle in this portrait suggest.
Crispina was fourteen when she was married to Commodus, then Caesar and around two years her senior, in AD 178. The first legitimate biological son to be born to an emperor since Vespasian, Commodus succeeded his father as sole ruler in 180, whereupon Crispina was given the title of Augusta. Conspicuous on the Roman coinage, Antonine empresses followed the extensive Hadrianic issues in the name of his wife Sabina - a significant divergence from the Flavian and Trajanic coinage, on which the imperial women only had a token presence.
Beyond her youthful good looks the similarities with Venus, the mythical mother of Aeneas (and by extension the Roman people), quickly begin to diminish. 'Felix' can mean both 'lucky' or 'fruitful' - a title highlighting Venus's association with fertility and prosperity as also represented by the presence of Cupid, her son, and a dove in her portrait. Neither of these traits characterise either Commodus' reign or Bruttia's life: Commodus, a megalomaniac, grew ever more capricious and often had prominent citizens tortured or murdered in horrific ways; Crispina meanwhile remained childless, causing a dynastic succession crisis. The marriage was plagued by Commodus' extravagant extramarital indiscretions, yet in 182 it was Crispina who was (falsely) accused of adultery and banished by the emperor to the island of Capri, divorced a year later, and eventually strangled on his orders. The Historia Augusta notes her adulterous behaviour as the cause, but historians often associate her demise with implication in her sister-in-law Lucilla's plot to assassinate Commodus.
This rare and marvellously well-preserved aureus has a long pedigree and was once in the collection of Sir Arthur Evans, the British archaeologist who led the dig at Knossos on Crete which transformed our understanding of Minoan civilisation. Evans played a major role in the histories of two of this country's most esteemed museums: as Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum from 1884-1908, he gave that institution its world-renowned archaeological character, while as President of the Society of Antiquaries and a Trustee of the British Museum during the First World War he successfully fought the War Office who wanted to commandeer the museum for the Air Board.