ampulla
- Museum number
- 1929,0108.1
- Description
-
Ampulla; earthenware; buff fabric with incomplete neck, two handles and a round body; body decorated on both sides with the orant figure of St Menas, his arms outstretched in blessing, standing between two camels. He wears a short tunic and a long cloak. On either side of his head a cross; all within a pearled border. Both sides come from moulds produced by the same archetype.
- Production date
- 480-650 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 92 millimetres
-
Width: 74 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Terracotta IV
Donated: Thomas G. Barnett. Said to have been found in Burgate, Canterbury, during excavations in 1868.
Late Roman, about AD 480-650.
Comparanda:
Close: Kiss 1989a: nos 51 and 52, from Kom el-Dikka, Alexandria, context of ad 610-650; von Falck and Lichtwark 1996: 164, no. 140, dated end of fifth to middle of seventh century AD; Witt 2000: no. 1, from Ramleh, Alexandria, dated end of fifth to mid-seventh century AD.
Near: Hayes 1976: 117, no. 271, dated late sixth to seventh century ad; Metzger 1981: no. 9, from Alexandria, dated sixth to seventh century AD.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2021 24 May-4 Jul, Canterbury, The Beaney, Thomas Becket and Pilgrimage
2015-2016, 29 Oct-7 Feb, British Museum, Room 35, Egypt: Faith after the Pharoahs
- Condition
- Damaged.
- Acquisition date
- 1929
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1929,0108.1
