Detail of a Portrait of Elagabalus or Alexander Severus? in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, October 2009

Portrait of a youth (Elagabalus?)
Roman, Imperial Period, A.D. 218–224

Dimensions: Height: 71 cm (27 15/16 in.)

Medium or Technique: Marble

Classification: Sculpture

Catalogue Raisonné: Sculpture in Stone and Bronze (MFA), no. 051.

Accession Number: 1977.337

This may be an early portrait bust of Emperor Elagabalus (A.D. 218-222), who became emperor at the age of fifteen. He wears a banded toga with a board-like fold running across the chest, which is sometimes termed a toga contabulata in modern scholarship. This style of toga first appears in the second century A.D. and became the most common form of the toga in the third and fourth centuries despite the difficulty of producing and maintaining the band (see Tertullian, ...De Pallio 5).

Most of the nose is missing, and the break in right shoulder goes through to back and toward the left shoulder. There is a second break closer to end of the right shoulder; both breaks have been repaired. The surface still retains polish in some areas, and there are some stains and root marks on the face, and reddish spots on the right chest and in the folds over the right arm.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/portrait-of-a-youth-elagab...