Byzantine Marble Altar Screen

5TH-7TH CENTURY AD

41 3/4" (66 kg, 1.06m).

A large fragment of a Proconnesian marble altar screen, incised outer border and incuse equal-armed cross; band of script to the lower edge. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Ex UK collection since 2012; previously acquired from a Mayfair, London, UK, dealer, in 2012; formerly from a UK private collection.

Literature

See Crum, M.W.E., Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Coptic Monuments, Le Caire, 1902, panel 8496, for similar slab with cross.

Footnotes

Various stelae with Greek inscriptions in limestone are preserved as tomb monuments of the Coptic Egypt, although this panel seems to come from a church altar or from the Ambon of a Church, as visible on the ancient Ambon outside of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This was the structure placed in the center of a church, and would typically be where the Epistle or Gospel was read.

CONDITION

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AUCTIONS:

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LOT 0129

Byzantine Marble Altar Screen

Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,810

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