TERRACOTTA ST. MENAS FLASK

TERRACOTTA STAINT MENAS FLASK

Two-handled pilgrim’s flask, both sides with figure of Saint Menas standing ‘en face’ and preaching, holding camel in each hand, cross above. St. Menas was an Egyptian martyr, beheaded at Alexandria

Ex priv. coll. J. G., Netherlands, 1990-2020
H. 11,3 cm.

4th – 6th cent. AD

Cf. C. Ziegler, Egyptian Antiquities, The Louvre, Paris 1997, p. 92
Centre for pilgrims was built in the desert in the 4th century AD