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Details
LOT 0176
Byzantine Bronze Punch with Menorah and Hebrew Inscription
CIRCA 5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/4 in. (18.8 grams, 31 mm).
Columnar stem with conical base extending to a square-section shank.
Provenance
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Literature
Cf. Friedenberg, D.M., ‘The Evolution and Uses of Jewish Byzantine Stamp Seals’, in The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, vol. 52/53, 1994/1995, pp.16ff., nos. 19-21.
Footnotes
Stamping in antiquity and in the Roman Empire was under strict regulations, and it was not limited to food and liquid containers. Bricks and tiles used in construction were impressed with the names of magistrates, workshops, estate owners from whom the material came, and the names of individual makers. Among the myriad Late Roman stamps, a great number were to mark bread or containers holding flour and other foods, as well as a variety of liquids such as wine, oil, fish and fruits preserved in sauces, medical ointments, even water. It is interesting to note as the Jewish symbols here engraved are very stylised: as mentioned by various scholars, the Jewish representations of shofar and lulav on this category of stamps degenerated in quality in Late Antiquity and this is way there are variously dated between the 4th and the 7th century.
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LOT 0176
Byzantine Bronze Punch with Menorah and Hebrew Inscription
Estimate £1,000 - 1,400€1,160 - 1,620 (for guidance only)$1,350 - 1,890 (for guidance only)
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The relief shows similarities with scenes from sarcophagi made in Constantinople, which depict miracles of Christ witnessed by the Apostles, especially Saint Peter. In particular, due to its similarity to fragments of a sarcophagus from Leontopolis but carved in Byzantium, the scene may depict the healing of the blind man of Jericho, with Peter witnessing the miracles performed by Jesus.
