Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien, Band 80/2011, pp. 167-242, 2024/10/08
The production of imperial cameos which began under Emperor Augustus came to a temporary conclusion with the end of the Severan dynasty. During the period of the soldier-emperors hardly any cameos were carved; at best, older cameos, after re-cutting, were reused. With the cameo in Dumbarton Oaks, the creation of large-format cameos was reintroduced in ca. 300 A.D., experiencing a Late Antique heyday under Emperor Constantine. In close continuity with the cameos of the early imperial period, ambitious reliefs in stone were produced anew. In part, these consciously pick up the forms of early imperial iconography,
transplanting them into a Late Antique format. Based on the pictorial themes, it can be assumed that the
type of ›ruler cameo‹ which had not been produced for a long time was taken up again to serve the propagandistic purposes of the emperor. Stylistic observations allow a stone cutter to be identified who must have
worked for the imperial house
