statuette

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Object Type
Museum number: 1813,0213.1
Title: Object: Statuette of Nero
Description: Copper alloy statuette of Nero in the guise of Alexander. Silver and copper-plating and deliberately patinated black bronze detail. The figure, which is hollow cast, stands with the weight on the right leg whilst the left foot is raised and may have originally rested on a globe or helmet (now missing). The right hand originally held a spear or sceptre (now missing) and the left arm is also missing. The figure wears imperial dress of decorated boots, a short tunic and a cuirass which is richly adorned with inlaid silver and niello patterns. The face is full and plump and the hair upstanding above the brow; the lips are slightly parted and the eyes, originally inlaid with colours (now missing) gaze upwards.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 1stC
Findspot: Found/Acquired: Barking Hall (?)
Materials: copper alloy; copper; silver
Technique: copper-plated; silver-plated
Dimensions: Height: 62 centimetres; Width: 28 centimetres; Depth: 25 centimetres
Curator's comments: Bronze statuette of Nero Roman Britain, 1st century AD Said to be from Barking Hall, Suffolk, but probably from Baylham Mill, near Ipswich Though idealized, the facial features on this statuette do resemble those of Nero, the fifth Roman emperor (AD 54-68). This we know from his likeness on coins and official portraiture. The iconography is appropriate for an image of an emperor: the figure's upward gaze is reminiscent of traditional representations of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian emperor (reigned 336-323 BC). Alexander was seen as the paradigm of a great leader, even in the late-Roman period. The piece is of very high quality, with lavish use of silver- and copper-plating and deliberately patinated black bronze. The high quality of workmanship, the use of inlay, the patterning of the cuirass, and the rather soft figure-style have all suggested that it was made in Gaul and imported into Britain, presumably in antiquity. Neither its original context nor the circumstances of its discovery can be establised with any certainly (CSIR I, 8).
Bibliographic references: CSIR I, 8 / Roman Sculpture from Eastern England (no. 25); Potter 1997 / Roman Britiain (p.15, fig.7); Stapleton et al. 1995 / 'Corinthium aes' and black bronze in the early medieval period (pp.387-88, fig. 1) (scientific analysis); Roman Britain 1964 / Guide to the Antiquities of Roman Britain (p. 54, pl. 14.12); Hobbs & Jackson 2010 / Roman Britain Life at the Edge of Empire (p. 37, fig. 25); Hobbs 2016 / The Mildenhall Treasure: Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia (p.146)
Location: On display (G49/dc14)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2016 11 Mar- 25 Sep, Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, Celts. 2015-2016 24 Sep-31 Jan, London, BM, G30, 'Celts: Art and Identity' 2009 16 Jul-2010 16 Jan, Italy, Museo Civico Archeologico di Anzio, Anzio e Nerone 1996 30 Mar-13 Nov, Italy, Rimini, Sala dell’Arengo, Dalla Terra Alle Genti
Condition: The left arm is lost; also missing are the object once supporting the left foot and the spear (or sceptre) held in the right hand (CSIR I, 8).
Subjects
Associated names
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1813
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1813,0213.1
Conservation: Treatment: 27 Jan 2005; Treatment: 28 Nov 1996; Treatment: 01 Feb 1996

Free entry

Opening hours