Ivory portrait head of the emperor Augustus
A carved head of a young man with short, wavy hair combed into a fringe over the brow, set on a grey pedestal against a dark background. The smooth, idealized face has heavy-lidded eyes and a small mouth, and the weathered ivory shows traces of reddish tone.
Look closer: A metal pin or rod projects from the base of the neck where the head was mounted.
- Artist
- Unknown
- Date
- ca. 27 BCE–14 CE
- Medium
- Ivory
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Size
- 2911 × 3880 px
Public domain · The Metropolitan Museum of Art releases this image under CC0 (latest date 14).
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (The Met Open Access, isPublicDomain=true)
Rights checked 2026-11-05 · tier A · as stated by the source: CC0 (The Met Open Access, isPublicDomain=true)
Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1923