figure-mould
- Museum number
- EA43417
- Description
-
The upper fragment of a terracotta front-mould for a female saint or a beneficent demon, with a large hairstyle, possibly a wreath or a nimbus. It is broken off just below the breasts. At the rear the remains of five straps of clay survive: they held the two-piece mould together in the kiln so that if warping occurred the two pieces would still match; the straps were broken when the mould pieces were separated after firing. Four roughly parallel incised lines, made before firing, cross the back. Almost certainly made from the same archetype as registration no. 1876,0615.39: it has the same asymmetric breasts, and other details match. Micaceous pink Aswan kaolinite clay, the back and edges covered with a matt red-brown slip.
- Production date
- 6thC-7thC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 8.50 centimetres
-
Width: 8.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Terracotta IV
Purchased: Robert de Rustafjaell Sale 1906.
Late Roman, sixth to seventh century AD.
Comparandum: Near, but with radiate hair or nimbus: Adams 2000: pl. 20c:3, from Meinarti in Nubia, of Nile silt: context between about the late fifth and the mid-seventh century AD.
Bibliog: Not recognized in Sotheby's 'Sale Catalogue' of 19-21 December 1906; Bailey 1986: pl. lxxd.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- good
- Acquisition date
- 1907
- Department
- Egypt and Sudan
- BM/Big number
- EA43417
- Registration number
- 1907,0112.20
