The gem shows the armoured bust of a youthful emperor or prince with laurel wreath in profile. The identification of the person or the attribution of the portrait is done by comparing the coinage. Marie-Louise Vollenweider commented on this piece as follows: "The expressive, somewhat confused cutting technique as well as the dark green jasper, which was popular in the late period, support a dating of the stone to the 3rd century AD. As far as the facial features and determination of the portrait allow, the outline of the elongated head, the profile line with the tip of the nose drawn forward, the thin neck, the bust seen from the back show the greatest resemblance to the coinage of Quietus."
After the capture of Valerian in 260 AD, Quietus and his brother Macrianus were proclaimed Augusti by the army standing in Syria as 'iuvenes fortissimi'. - If this is indeed the portrait of Quietus, it would be the only gem image of him that has survived. (AVS)
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