Depicting the Roman rulers of Otho and Tiberius, these remarkable busts date to the 17th century and exhibit the masterful sculptural qualities synonymous with Italian workmanship. The beautiful, slightly later carrera marble heads are precisely detailed and rest upon remarkably worked 17th-century alabaster forms the robed chest and shoulders of each commanding ruler. Phenomenal representations of powerful rulers of antiquity, marble busts of Roman emperors were highly regarded amongst the wealthy as symbols of prestige. To find an original pairing of this quality and condition is quite exceptional.
Similar busts can be found in the collections of Spain's Museo del Prado in Madrid, the Hall of Emperors at the Palazzo Nuovo in Rome and the National Trust's Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, England.