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Drawing of a Coptic Saint

Late Antique
6th–7th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 127
Like most sites in the Theban necropolis, the tomb of Nespekashuty underwent repeated reuse and repurposing through the centuries. Nespekashuty's seventh century BC tomb itself had reused the courtyard and causeway of an early 11th Dynasty (ca. 2030 BC) tomb. And this block belongs to a Late Antique phase of reuse in connection with the spread of Coptic Christian monks and ascetics in Western Thebes in the 6th-7th centuries AD.

On the left side of the block is a drawing of the head of a Coptic saint in red paint, on the right a pillar and staircase. Scratched over the staircase is a fish.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Drawing of a Coptic Saint
  • Period: Late Antique
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 26
  • Reign: reign of Psamtik I
  • Date: 6th–7th century
  • Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb of Nespekashuty (TT 312, MMA 509), 1st chamber W. wall; bottom register, below, MMA excavations, 1922–23
  • Medium: Limestone, paint
  • Dimensions: L. 55.3 × H. 22.8 × D. 9.1 cm, 18.7 kg (21 3/4 × 9 × 3 9/16 in., 41.2 lb.)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1923
  • Object Number: 23.3.761
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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