- Museum number
- 1876,0520.4
- Description
-
Earthenware ampulla. On each side, within a border of studs, Saint Menas stands to front, his arms outstretched in blessing. Above each arm is a cross. He has curly hair, and wears a short tunic and a long cloak, and is flanked by camels. Both sides came from moulds produced from the same archetype. One handle is largely lost. Orange clay with a buff surface; a few large white inclusions.
- Production date
- 480-650 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 9.30 centimetres
-
Weight: 74.60 grammes
-
Thickness: 2 centimetres
-
Width: 6.80 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Terracotta IV
Donated: Augustus Wollaston Franks.
Late Roman, about AD 480-650.
Comparanda:
Close: Dutilh 1904: pls 1 and 2, fig. 6, from Alexandria; Ede n.d.a: 114, lot 33, dated sixth to seventh century AD; Garbsch and Overbeck 1989: no. 185, dated fourth to seventh century AD; Hayes 1976: pl. 117:270, dated late sixth to seventh century AD; Heide and Thiel 2004: 142, no. iii.3.8, dated end of fifth to middle of seventh century AD; Kiss 1989a: nos 51, 52 and 61, from Kom el-Dikka, Alexandria, context AD 610-650; Lunsingh Scheurleer 1998: 3, fig. 4, top left; Petrie Museum uc19517, thought to be from Alexandria, and uc47626, from Memphis; Sena Chiesa 1998: 652, no. vii.18, said to be from Aquileia, dated sixth century AD; Strzygowski 1904: pl. xxi:8969, from Alexandria; Tulli 1932: 233 (six examples); Comstock and Vermeule 1976: 203, no. 237, from Tanis; Witt 2000: no. 11, and nos 12 and 13, from Ramleh (?), Alexandria, dated end of fifth to mid-seventh century AD.
Near: de Araújo 1993: 396, no. 303, dated fifth to seventh century AD; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, e.p.338; Metzger 1981: nos 14 and 16, dated sixth to seventh century AD; Yoyotte 1997: no. 297, said to have been found in Arles and dated mid-sixth to mid-seventh century AD.
Bibliog: Dalton 1901: no. 864; Murray 1907: pl. v:2.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2011 23 June-9 Oct, London, BM, Treasures of Heaven
- Acquisition date
- 1876
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1876,0520.4
