Funerary Stela with Boy Standing in a Niche
Description
Object Label: The most common image of the deceased in pagan burials was a figure of a boy standing or seated in a niche. The seated boy here holds a dove and a bunch of grapes. These objects may also have been held by the standing figure, but his hands and especially his head have been recut and repainted in modern times. That is why those features appear to be in perfect condition, in contrast to the partially preserved color on his red robe. Catalogue description: Culture Coptic Caption: Coptic. Funerary Stela with Boy Standing in a Niche, 4th–5th century C.E.. Limestone, ancient and modern pigment, 27 9/16 x 9 5/8 x 6 1/2 in. (70 x 24.5 x 16.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 58.129. (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 painted funerary stele depicting a man in a niche.
The artifact is a painted funerary stele showing a man standing within a niche, characteristic of Roman period funerary art influenced by both Egyptian and Hellenistic styles. The man is dressed in a tunic, and the artwork is executed with a focus on frontal view and symmetry. The paint remains vibrant, highlighting the garment and details of the face.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 58.129 tier-2
- BKM-Object 74636 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.