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LOT 0199
Byzantine Terracotta Pilgrim Flask with a Saint
6TH CENTURY A.D.
3 in. (3 1/2 in.) (47.2 grams, 77 mm (71.4 grams total, 91 mm including stand)).
Piriform in profile with two thick lug handles to the shoulder, obverse with low-relief facing figure holding a large cross and orb, reverse with facing figure with hand held up in the orans posture; with a display stand.
ProvenanceEx private collection, Mrs L.S., 1990s.
Acquired from the above, 2001.
Private European collection.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12110-218216.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. Wamser, L., Die Welt von Byzanz - Europas Östliches Erbe, München, 2004, items 286-289, for discussion; Comstock, M.B. (ed.), Romans and Barbarians, Boston, 1976, p.203, nos.237-239, for similar.
FootnotesAmpullae like this one were filled with water from holy places, like the lake near the Sanctuary of Saint Menas, famous for its healing properties. In Egypt in the 6th-7th century, and throughout the eastern part of the Roman Empire, these ampullae were an integral part of the equipment of pilgrims visiting holy places and who, like today, carried with them a portion of holy water considered miraculous against ailments of the body and soul.
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