{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O332812"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O332812/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH2599/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH2599/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AH2599","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JY2876","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O332812/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O332812","accessionNumber":"5628-1859","objectType":"Roundel","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Roundel with bust portrait of the Emperor Otho in profile to the left, painted in enamels en grisaille and with gilding on copper, probably by Pierre Courteys (ca.1520 - ca.1580), Limoges, France, ca.1550-60. The emperor wears a laurel wreath with long tassle at the back, painted in gold, over his intricately delineated hair. His golden armour, worn over an undershirt the top of which is gently pleated and edged with gold, is painted to resemble expensive chased decoration. A cloak known as a paludamentum is knotted at his shoulder over his  armour. The iris of the emperor's eye is rendered by lines radiating from the pupil. The grisaille work includes stippling to create contour and shadow on his face, and a raised vein is shown on his temple. His  name is given in capital letters to left and right of the  portrait. The enamel is neither signed nor dated.\r\n\r\nThis enamel reflects the taste for subjects from classical antiquity in the art of the Renaissance. Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars was a hugely popular Roman literary work, which circulated throughout Europe in many editions following the success of its publication in Rome in 1470. The depictions of the emperors' profile bust portraits on enamels may follow Roman coins, Renaissance bronze medals and a set of engravings by Marcantonio Raimondi.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Courteys, Pierre","id":"AUTH401339"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28690"},"note":"Not signed. Unattributed on acquisition but annotated by hand in the register with an attribution to Jean II Penicaud. Another past suggestion has been Martial Ydeux. "}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"copper","id":"AAT11020"},{"text":"enamels","id":"AAT14910"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},{"text":"enamelled","id":"x30139"},{"text":"gilded","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Painted in enamels with gilding.","categories":[{"text":"Enamels","id":"THES48876"},{"text":"Renaissance (French)","id":"THES267855"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AH2599","2017JY2876"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"012","id":"THES335243"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Plaque","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Limoges","id":"x32604"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1550 - 1560","earliest":"1550-01-01","latest":"1560-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"5626-1859","id":"O332814"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"5627-1859","id":"O332813"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"5629-1859","id":"O332811"},"association":"Set"},{"object":{"text":"5630-1859","id":"O332810"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"24.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Converted from inches from the register."}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'CAESAR · AUGUSTE', and 'IMP · OCTO', painted in gold","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"Emperor Otho","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"To left and right of the bust portrait."}],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Soulages Collection.\nThough the further provenance is uncertain, Jules Soulages was collecting actively in France (Paris, Toulouse, Lyons) in the period 1825-mid 1840s, By 1849 he had incurred debts and started to consider the sale of the collection which he housed first in Paris at 75 Grande Rue St. Michel and then in his house in Toulouse which was known informally as the 'Musée Soulages'. He also made several visits to Italy and collected there. Neither John Webb’s report on the Soulages Collection, nor the catalogue compiled by the early curator of the South Kensington Museum, J. C. Robinson, provide clues as to provenance prior to Soulages’ ownership. Clotilde Deflassieux, 'Le musée Soulages, étude d’une collection particulière toulousaine au XIXe siècle, Mémoire, Univ. de Toulouse-Le Mirail, 1992, does not provide individual object provenance.\n\r\nFrom a different Caesar series is a <i>Nero</i> at Ecouen (inv. E.Cl.21968) which measures 25.5cms, and another <i>Nero</i> sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet’s Mentmore sale, May 1977, see ‘Catalogue of Works of Art and Silver’, vol.2, p.200, no.1142. \n\nNo museum is known to hold a complete set of Caesars. There would likely have been 12 in a set, but the emperors we not always the same 12.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"The Emperor Otho, painted in enamels <i>en grisaille</i> and with gilding on copper, probably Pierre Courteys, Limoges, France, ca.1550-60.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Anne-Marie Bautier’s article, Le theme des Douze Cesars dans les emaux peints de Limoges, Bull. De la Soc. Archeol. et Hist. du Limousin, vol.CXVIII, 1990."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Françoise Barbe and Véronique Notin, 'La Rencontre des Héros', Limoges, 2002"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Tamara Rappé and Larissa Boulkina, 'Les émaux peints de Limoges de la collection de l’ermitage', 2005"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Véronique Notin, 'Emaux limousins du Musée national de l’Ermitage de Saint-Petersbourg', 2004. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Alfred Darcel, catalogue raisonné of the Basilewsky Collection, 1874. "}],"production":"Made as one of a set, of which the V&A has five roundels (Claudius, Nero, Otho, Vespasian, Vitellius).","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Otho","id":"N439"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["5628-1859"],"accessionNumberNum":"5628","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1859,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-22","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}