Curator

  • Art Institute Chicago
  • Harvard art museum
  • My Exhibition
Limestone block depicting animals wrapped in vines

Section of an Architectural Frieze

Coptic

Section of an architectural frieze decorated in relief. Continuous vine scroll forms loops and has spiney foliate tendrils which continue from the ends of vine offshoots. Within the loops are the foreparts of animals. In this preserved section of the frieze, a hare with head turned back populates one loop, and a charging gazelle or antelope the other. Both preserved animals have stippled hides. A plain, narrow fillet borders the bottom edge of the block.

Limestone

Byzantine period

Architectural Elements