Paralytic Raising His Bed
Description
Object Label: The craftsmanship of these two works is comparable to the best of the Brooklyn Museum’s genuine Late Antique stone carvings. However, many features show that neither is ancient. Like many forgeries, both figures have unrealistic hair and heavily outlined, staring eyes. The female figure’s garment, with its odd folds and neckline, is without parallels, as is her headdress. She holds an orb with a cross and a scepter, objects held in Late Antique Sculpture only by male archangels, and she appears to stand in front of the framing arch, rather than within it. The paralytic man healed by Jesus was seldom illustrated in this period; moreover, this sizable figure would have been inappropriate in either a tomb or a church. It has been carefully—and unrealistically—damaged only on both hands and one lower edge. Caption: Paralytic Raising His Bed, 20th century C.E. (probably). Limestone, pigment, 24 7/16 x 13 9/16 x 12 in. (62 x 34.5 x 30.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.44. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A painted limestone relief/standing figure shows a nude, youthful man with arms bent upward holding a bed-like support behind his shoulders, in front of a draped back panel with vertical pleats.
The image depicts a standing figure rendered in the round against a rectangular, paneled background. The man is nude from shoulders to legs, with short, stylized hair and a striated wig-like texture. His facial features include large, outlined eyes and a neutral expression. One arm is bent so the hand appears near the upper back/shoulder area; the other arm is similarly positioned, suggesting he is “raising” or lifting an object behind him. His torso has incised/painted details of the chest and abdomen; the legs are separated in a relaxed stance. The rear support consists of a thick rectangular stone frame with a series of vertical, draped folds/panels carved across it, forming a backdrop. Faint coloration/paint remnants are visible on skin areas and the background, consistent with the catalogue’s “pigment” material. No legible inscription is visible on the stone surface in this image, and no cartouche or royal titulary can be confirmed. No clear depiction of specific deities is identifiable from the available details (no unmistakable crowns, attributes, or iconographic markers).
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 62.44 tier-2
- BKM-Object 80243 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.