portrait

肖像　—　Reading

A person's face cut into a coin.

Portrait coin of Ptolemy I — A photograph of what this word names.

Denarius with Caesar's portrait — A photograph of what this word names.

Placing the face of a living person on a coin was long a line not to be crossed in the ancient Mediterranean. When someone finally crossed it, the coin transformed from a "tool of the state" to a "personal declaration."

⚠ A portrait is not a photograph. The intent to create a likeness and the intent to idealize are at work simultaneously.