Jasper Statuette of a Man Wearing a Toga in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2022

Title: Jasper statuette of a man wearing a toga

Period: Early Imperial, Julio-Claudian or Flavian

Date: 1st century CE

Culture: Roman

Medium: Jasper

Dimensions: H. 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm)

Classification: Stone Sculpture

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1917

Accession Number: 17.230.54


A semiprecious stone, jasper is difficult to carve and rarely used for sculpture. In this statuette, the stone’s rich veins of variegated reds and browns were chosen specifically to suggest the toga picta, a purple-dyed garment worn only by Roman consuls and the emperor. The head and arms were likely of another luxury stone, or perhaps of ivory.

The toga was worn only by Roman citizens, and until A.D. 212, citizenship was restricted to the freeborn male inhabitants of Italy and a few privileged groups in the provinces. Jasper is a rare and expensive stone, so this statuette must have portrayed a prominent member of the citizen body, perhaps the emperor himself in the guise of the Princeps (First Citizen). Dowel holes indicate that the head and extremities were added, probably in another luxury material such as ivory.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/250587