Grand camée de France

TNMM 577

The setting is divided into two parts. In the lower register, Parthian and Germanic captives. In the second register, the emperor Augustus, his head veiled and wearing a radial crown, is surrounded by Germanicus, mounted on a winged horse, and Tiberius' son, Drusus the younger. The floating figure dressed in oriental style, carrying a globe in his hands, could be Aeneas. The centre of the gem is reserved for Tiberius enthroned with his mother Livia; he is presiding over a solemn ceremony presumed to be the designation of Nero (standing in arms before him) as Prince of Youth in AD 23.

Around 23 AD. Provenance: treasure of the Sainte-Chapelle.
Upper part: in the centre Augustus, surrounded by Drusus II, Germanicus on Pegasus.
Middle section: in the centre Tiberius, Livia, on the far left Caligula.
Lower part: barbarian Parthian and Gemini captives
Acquired by Saint Louis from Beauduin II (?)

It appears to have come to France from the treasury of the Byzantine Empire, and is first attested in the first inventory of the treasure of the Sainte Chapelle before 1279. It was then known as the Triumph of Joseph at the Court of the Pharaoh. It was sold by Baldwin II, emperor of the Latin Empire, to Louis IX of France.