Mark Zuckerberg ‘revives Roman tradition’ with sculpture of wife

Mark Zuckerberg has claimed to have revived the “Roman tradition of making sculptures of your wife” as he unveiled a more-than-two-metre statue of his partner in their garden.

The 40-year-old tech billionaire and Facebook co-founder posted a photo on Instagram of Priscilla Chan, 39, drinking from a mug next to an enormous blue statue bearing her resemblance.

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.Credit: Bloomberg

“Bringing back the Roman tradition of making sculptures of your wife,” Zuckerberg wrote alongside it.

The sculpture shows Chan cast in eggshell blue – similar to that favoured by the luxury jewellery brand Tiffany & Co – and appearing to be in mid-stride, with a draped metallic cloak billowing behind her in a form alluding to wings.

It was created by Daniel Arsham, a New York-based artist, who has collaborated with brands including Dior, Tiffany and Pokemon.

Chan shared the photograph to her Instagram stories, writing: “You can’t miss me”. She also commented on Zuckerberg’s photograph: “The more of me the better?”

Zuckerberg won plaudits for the gesture from some social media users. “New husband goal just dropped,” Chandra R Srikanth wrote on X, formerly Twitter, while one Instagram user commented: “Husbands everywhere are shaking.”

Others were less impressed. Instagram user Andrew Mwangi said: “This is the most billionaire thing to do ever,” while comedian David Baddiel wrote on X: “It’s a lovely gesture, and I’m not saying they aren’t going to be together forever, but it’s potentially a great scene in the biopic when Mark explains this to the second Mrs Zuckerberg.”

Arsham, who has exhibited his work globally, including in Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai and Venice, uses materials including volcanic ash, crystal and bronze in his sculpture projects.

Zuckerberg has long been fascinated with classical history, dating back to his time at Phillips Exeter Academy, the elite American boarding school, where he studied Latin.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.Credit: AP

During Roman times, sculptures were made of wives in line with the ancient ideal of “pietas”, which symbolises loyalty and devotion to the family and state.

In 2018, Zuckerberg revealed in an interview he was particularly fascinated by the emperor Augustus, the first leader of ancient Rome. The couple travelled to the Eternal City for their honeymoon.

“My wife was making fun of me, saying she thought there were three people on the honeymoon: me, her, and Augustus,” Zuckerberg told the New Yorker. “All the photos were different sculptures of Augustus.”

He and Ms Chan gave their three children names derived from Roman emperors: Maxima, eight, August, six, and Aurelia, one.

Zuckerberg and Chan met at a party in 2003 while studying at Harvard University. They were married in 2012 at a surprise ceremony at their home in Palo Alto, California, with the guests told they were attending a party to celebrate Chan’s graduation from medical school.

Zuckerberg is not the first billionaire tech mogul to have appeared to create a vast sculpture of his partner.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was previously rumoured to have had the enormous sculpture on the prow of his superyacht made to resemble his fiancé, Lauren Sanchez.

Sanchez later said while she was “flattered” by the comparisons, the figure was based on the Norse goddess Freyja.

Other current Zuckerberg projects include building a $100 million Hawaiian ranch with a sprawling underground bunker and a network of treehouses.

The Meta billionaire’s Koolau Ranch estate is expected to boast more than a dozen buildings on a 1400-acre (566 hectares) plot on Kauai island.

Along with 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms, the ranch will feature 11 treehouses in a nearby woodland area, which will be joined by rope bridges, meaning guests will not have to descend to move between them, according to planning documents seen by Wired.

The compound will include two mansions spanning 57,000 square feet (5295 square metres) complete with lifts, offices, conference rooms and an industrial-sized kitchen.

They will be joined by an underground tunnel, which connects to a 5000 sq ft bunker with a living space, mechanical room and escape hatch that can be accessed via a ladder. It will also reportedly feature an apparent “blast-resistant” concrete and steel door.

Telegraph, London

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