Emperor Marcus Aurelius A.D. 161-180

A bronze medal showing a bearded man in profile facing right, with a laurel wreath in his hair and a draped, armored bust. A beaded border runs around the rim, and the inscription reads along the edge on both sides of the portrait.

Look closer: A small round ornament sits on the breastplate near the lower center of the bust.

Artist

Giovanni del Cavino

Date

1500–1570

Medium

Bronze

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

4000 × 3639 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of The Mark and Lottie Salton Trust, 2021