Height: ca. 35 cm. Italy, 19th century. The busts, one showing Emperor Hadrian (Emperor 117-138 AD) and the other Vitellius (Emperor 69 AD), standing on a square double conical base and designed as combination busts. Harnessed and with pleated overhang held by separate agraffe. Inset head in white marble. Minimally dam. Note: Vitellius was one of the four emperors of the Four Emperors' Year during the turmoil of the civil war following Nero's forced suicide in 68. Under Nero he was already proconsul of the province of Africa in 60/61 and legate there under his brother Lucius. From the end of 68 he was commander of the army in Lower Germania and in 69 had himself proclaimed Imperator, whereby the sword of Gaius Iulius Caesar, which was kept in the Cologne Temple of Mars, was presented to him as a symbol of his claim to power. (1291765) (13)