Only a handful of life-size terracotta portraits have survived from antiquity, although this inexpensive, easily worked material was frequently used for large and small statues. While some may have been commissioned by those who could not afford a more expensive material, this portrait may have been made for use as a model for a more finished work in marble or bronze. Because sculpting stone and casting bronze were time-consuming, labor-intensive processes, a model in wax or clay was necessary to provide the artist with a likeness from which to work. Such models, which were relatively light and portable, could also be used to disseminate uniform images of important individuals, especially Roman emperors, over a vast geographic area.

No surviving terracotta portrait is as vivid and lively as this one. Recent investigations using medical imaging technology have confirmed a theory that this portrait was made, at least in part, using a mold taken directly from the face of a living person. Clay would have been pressed into the mold, leaving an exact impression of the facial features, down to the fine lines of the lips and loose, hanging skin of the neck; a scar from a traumatic head injury can be seen clearly on the forehead. After casting the face, the artist added clay to complete the shape of the head and further modeled parts of the surface with tools. The hair was worked more roughly, but the hairstyle, relatively short and combed forward from the crown of the head, conforms to the standard fashion of the mid- to late first century B.C.

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