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.