An Imperial Portrait Cameo of Antonia Minor in a 14th-Century Reliquary Cross in Prague

Abstract

The present study explores a little-studied and reinterpreted early Roman Imperial cameo depicting Antonia Minor (36 bc–ad 37), which came into the possession of the Holy Roman emperor, Charles IV of Luxembourg (1316–78), a collector of ancient gems. It was presumably by his order that the ancient cameo was set in a splendid gold reliquary cross which he commissioned after his imperial coronation to house relics of the True Cross. Thus, in the new setting, the cameo could be perceived as the divine Antonia Minor; Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, who allegedly discovered the True Cross; or Saint Catherine, Charles’ heavenly protectress. The cross is today preserved in the Treasury of Saint Vitus Cathedral, Prague.