Marble portrait of the emperor Caracalla

Ancient Roman This marble head shows Emperor Caracalla (ruled 198-217 CE) with his distinctive military-style close-cropped curls and stubble beard. It's a deliberate break from the luxuriant hair and full beards of his predecessors. The curls are achieved through a technique called negative carving, where the sculptor stippled the surface rather than sculpting individual locks.

Caracalla's father Septimius Severus reportedly told him on his deathbed to "enrich the soldiers and despise everyone else." That aggressive character comes through in the portrait. He took the name M. Aurelius Antoninus Pius to claim legitimacy from earlier dynasties, yet his portrait style deliberately rejected theirs.

The head was produced at an imperial workshop in Rome. Surviving leg fragments from the full statue are displayed separately on the Met's Mezzanine Floor. It stands in Gallery 169 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.