Combe, Taylor [Hrsg.]: A description of the collection of ancient Marbles in the British Museum: with engravings (Band 11) (London, 1861)

PLATE XXVII.

YOUTHFUL BUST.

Bust of a boy with the neck bare, but the shoulders covered
with drapery. The expression is that of a child seven or eight
years old, and the hair is combed down smoothly over the fore-
head, and allowed to fall in tresses behind the ears. There might
be some doubt whether this bust represents a boy or a girl, as in
the case of boys it is more usual for the ears to be left uncovered
with the hair. Clarac has, however, published several busts,
wherein the hair is treated as on the bust before us. There are
no symbols of any kind remaining from which it can be inferred
whom this bust is intended to represent. On, however, a gold
coin of the Emperor Claudius there is a head of the youthful Nero
on the reverse, with the inscription NERO CLAVD. The like-
ness between the pourtraits on the coin and on this bust has led to
the belief that this bust is, in fact, a likeness of Nero when a boy.
It must, however, be confessed that the expression of the features
of Nero on the coin is much more marked than on the bust, and
represents him at the age of 14 or 15; whereas the personage
denoted by the bust cannot well be more than 7 or 8. It is
probable the coin itself was struck about a.d. 53, when Nero
was adopted by Claudius.

There is another gold coin, containing pourtraits of Agrippina
and her son Nero, struck, probably, after her murder in a.d. 59 ;
on this there is a representation of the young Nero, unlaureate
and bearing some analogy in the shape of the head and the

h 2