This specimen is one of the few surviving and thus important examples of small-format portraits of Emperor Trajan in bronze. It shows an armoured bust (variation of types IV and IV A; so-called Decennalia portrait and type Oslo) for attachment to a base (clipeata imago).
The head with neck and the armoured bust were cast separately using the lost wax model method. Both parts were then soldered together. The soldering marks are still clearly visible on the inside.
On the outside, however, the soldering marks were so carefully reworked that they were completely invisible when looking at the bust from below - this was the desired viewpoint. The eyes, which are missing today, were made of coloured glass flux. The framing of the bust is also missing. There are ten round holes at irregular intervals along the lower edge of the bust. In one of these holes there is still a rivet with which the bust was attached to a base.
The bust was found in the Tiber, together with a bronze jug showing battle scenes from the context of the Dacian Wars. (AVS)
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