Details

LOT 0444

Coptic Terracotta Clay Mould

6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.

3 1/2 in. (198 grams, 89 mm).

Discoid receptacle with a military saint in Roman armour (Saint Menas), with muscular cuirass and pteryges, arms open in the manner of the orans pose, animals (camels?) on his side. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Maurice Bouvier, Alexandrie, prior 1959.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Published

Suisse Collections Bouvier Exposition: Musée Bargoin de Clermont-Ferrand (2008-2009): Two Coptic terracotta plate fragments and a mould.

Literature

Cf. for ampullae of this type, British Museum, A guide to the early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities, London, 1921, p.82.

Footnotes

The majority of the terracotta ampullae come from Egypt and bear representations of St. Menas or Mennas, an Egyptian Christian officer decapitated during the persecutions of Diocletian's time. The legend relates that the saint's body was placed upon a camel which was let loose to follow what course it chose; in the place where the camel stopped, some miles from Alexandria, a grave and a shrine were subsequently built. In allusion to this legend, St. Menas is often represented as standing between two camels, though the animals are often of so fantastic a form as to be very difficult to recognise.