Details

LOT 0702

Imperial Porphyry Slab Section with a Black Xenolith

1ST-5TH CENTURY A.D. AND LATER

10 5/8 in. (1 kg, 27 cm).

Comprising irregular part of a polished porphyry block of rectangular shape, polished on three sides, with a black xenolith in the main face; probably from recarved material mined in ancient Roman times between the 1st and 5th century A.D.

Provenance

From the private collection of a UK gentleman since the early 1980s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Footnotes

Mons Porphyrites (today Jabal Abu Dukhkhan) is the mountainous site of a group of ancient quarries in the Red Sea Hills of the inhospitable eastern desert in Egypt, a five day trip from the Nile during Roman times. They were discovered by Caius Cominus Leugas in 18 A.D., and during the Roman Empire, the mines officially belonged to the emperor and were the only known source of the Imperial Porphyry, Mons Porphyrites. This dark purple stone was associated with royalty and used for prestigious sculpture and architecture. The location of the mines was lost some time in the 5th century, and rediscovered in the early 19th century. Excavations in the area have revealed the well-preserved quarries and the dwelling places of the quarrymen, and also thousands of ostraca have been discovered containing messages that provide details of how the quarrying took place, and of how the highly skilled quarrymen ordered their food.