ROMAN SEAL MATRIX

138

A medieval seal matrix set with a late antique gem. The legend reads: + PONITE LITERAS ISTAS INSIGL SILLV SECRT ('Place your letter under a secret seal'). The seal matrix is silver and dates from the thirteenth century. The gemstone, made of red jasper, is incised with a fine bust portrait of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned AD 138-161).1 The emperor is shown in profile from the right. He wears a laurel wreath as sign of office, from which two long fillets fall down onto his back. This type of representation is well established within first and second-century imperial iconography, cf. for example a sard with a portrait of Antoninus' predecessor Hadrian in the British Museum. In typical mid-second century fashion, the portrait includes the shoulder and uppermost part of the chest. Traces of an additional element, perhaps a cloak, appear on the left shoulder. Comparisons with coin portraits of the emperor make it clear beyond doubt that the subject is indeed Antoninus Pius 2; the lank strands of hair combed forward from the back of the crown, the arrangement of the locks above the forehead, and the beard are all very closely based on his official portrait type.