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Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · stela

Stela with Glorified Ankhs and Crosses

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Object Label: These two Christian stelae, made after the Arabs conquered Egypt in 642 c.e., reflect new styles from the East. The larger example (71.39.1), which has lost its top section, would have decorated a tomb wall much like the woven wall hangings in homes. Here, exuberant vegetal motifs almost submerge the small crosses. The round-topped stela (69.74.2), which has two lionlike animals in Eastern style and no Christian symbols at all, was made for a woman whose name, Suzanna, indicates that she was Christian. Her father’s name, Pachons, suggest that he was not Christian, a possibility that may explain the lack of Christian imagery here. Caption: Coptic. Stela with Glorified Ankhs and Crosses, 7th–8th century C.E.. Limestone, plaster, 35 7/16 x 18 7/8 x 2 9/16 in. (90 x 48 x 6.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 71.39.1. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06

Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

Limestone stela with intricate geometric and floral motifs.

The stela features an elaborate design with repetitive geometric and floral patterns, framed by a series of rectangular borders. The motifs are finely carved, showcasing elements such as rosettes and intertwining scrolls, which are characteristic of decorative art styles.

decorative Coptic good
Materials limestone

Connections

Materials Limestone

Cross-references (2)

  • BKM-Accession 71.39.1 tier-2
  • BKM-Object 97115 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.