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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lehmansterms, post: 2555630, member: 80804&quot;]There are a number of factors you may need to keep in mind when visiting the subject of Imperial portraits. First, the sort of perfect copying we take for granted virtually didn&#039;t exist, except for small, insignificant items like lamps or tiny, cheap plaster or terra cotta busts of popular people, gods or personifications sold in stalls at the market for display at home which were cast in molds - even those were painted by hand so there would have been some variation even there.&nbsp; </p><p>As for the coins, although they strove for some sort of &quot;verite&quot;, they were the product of many different artists with differing levels of skill and talent - as well as having varying degrees of access to the best portraits and varying degrees of Imperial input or impediment.</p><p>Also the emperor was only occasionally in a situation to &quot;sit to a sculptor&quot;, even if not out on some border fighting some interminable war, at least the more conscientious of them had a pretty full schedule as the ruler of an enormous empire. </p><p>So, when the emperor was at his leisure to sit for a top sculptor of the sort who would be retained for the Imperial court, he probably had a LOT of input into the portrait that resulted - possibly positive - possibly meddling. We know some folks are a lot more concerned with their looks and how they&#039;re seen than others, so there was at least a chance that the portraiture of the more devoted emperors was probably as close as artistic skill could render.</p><p>The original skilled and talented sculptor could only create so many copies of the same work, the vast majority of busts and coin portraits were then, copies of copies (of copies...etc.)</p><p>Obviously the creators of dies for Provincial coins did not have the same expectations of realism or level of skill - one wonders how many steps removed from a &quot;realistic&quot; portrait the prototypes from which many of them may have been working actually may have been.</p><p>The point is that there were a lot of factors which might have affected how accurate the portraits were, from technical limitations, to artistic talent and Imperial interest/interference. It&#039;s probably a good idea to try to blend all those varying portraits in your mind when envisioning what the emperors really looked like.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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