AN ITALIAN WHITE MARBLE BUST OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR MARCUS AURELIUS (121 AD-180 AD) 17TH CENTURY 68cm high Provenance: The Simon Neal Collection The apparent age of the marble and the carving style employed in the execution indicates a 17th century date for this bust of Marcus Aurelius, one of the most popular Roman emperors. The philosopher-emperor is perhaps most famous for a work his subjects never saw, his 'Meditations'. Written in Greek, during his long campaigns against the German tribes, it represented an intimate notebook that recorded his own reflections on human life and the ways of the gods. It seems to have survived almost by accident and was unknown to the writers of his time and for long afterwards but seems to have surfaced at some point in the 4th century.