Plant Scroll Enclosing Grapes and an Animal
Description
Object Label: The walls of both pagan and Christian tombs were decorated with friezes, usually composed of twined stems forming loops, which typically enclosed animals. The largest piece here, an unusually fine example, shows predators, possibly a boar and a hyena, chasing an antelope and perhaps a dog. These chases continued to the right, where traces of what may be a spotted leopard remain. Two plant loops on a smaller relief enclose fruits and a fanciful animal. Rather different are two parts of a frieze that featured naked women lounging in front of large plants. The figures have been repainted, but the bird held by one of them must depict the swan form in which the god Jupiter seduced Leda. Thus this frieze must have decorated a pagan monument. Caption: Coptic. Plant Scroll Enclosing Grapes and an Animal, 5th–6th century C.E.. Limestone, 7 × 17 11/16 × 7 1/4 in. (17.8 × 45 × 18.4 cm) 21 lb. (21 lb.). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 68.150.2. (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.
A decorative stone relief featuring intricate vine patterns and an animal figure.
The artifact displays a detailed stone relief with interlocking vine motifs and a depiction of an animal, possibly a mythological or symbolic representation. The composition shows a consistent and symmetrical design characteristic of decorative art. Notable features include the flowing curves of the vines, spiral elements, and the stylized rendering of the animal, suggesting a strong emphasis on symmetry and ornamental detail.
Connections
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 68.150.2 tier-2
- BKM-Object 94145 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.