Architectural Relief with Birds and Crosses

Description: 

Architectural Relief with Birds and Crosses

Coptic (Egypt), 6th century

Limestone

Hallie Ford Museum Label Text
This architectural relief fragment features typically ambiguous Early Christian iconography inherited from the period when Christianity was a banned and persecuted religion. The motifs include a highly stylized bird (possibly a dove representing the Holy Spirit) and two crossed disguised within acceptable Greek motifs- a palmette design on the left and interlaced fretwork on the right. The fragment probably comes from a church, possibly from the side of an arched doorway or the wall above an altar or shrine.

Willamette University, Hallie Ford Museum of Art: SPG99.06
Gift of Mark and Janeth Hogue Sponenburgh