Pair of Medallions with Portrait Busts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2023

Title: One of a pair of medallions with portrait busts

Period: Satavahana

Date: ca. 1st century CE

Culture: India, probably Maharashtra

Medium: Copper-nickel alloy

Dimensions: Diam. 2 3/4 in. (7 cm)

Classification: Metalwork

Credit Line: Purchase, The Chinese Porcelain Company Gift, 2003

Object Number: 2003.16.1

This elegant pair (with 2003.16.2) of roundel medallions with male busts, probably worn as cloak clasps, display a naturalism rarely encountered in portrait imagery found on Satavahana or Kushana coins and medallions. This object type has a lineage reaching back to Hellenistic Alexandria and more immediate parallels in Parthian (Iranian) royal portraiture of the first century CE. They were likely inspired by West Asian examples that circulated in the Indian luxury market.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/65014