The Martyrdom of St. Thekla
Description
Object Label: It is probable that these four examples of Christian art were made for religious buildings rather than tombs. The capital, which would have decorated the top of a small column, has slots to hold the walls of a chapel. The bust of an unnamed saint, shown blessing his viewers, may represent the patron saint of a church or monastery. The pair of reliefs shows saints who are little known today. St. Sissinios is apparently shown killing his sister, whose daughter had been taken over by the devil. St. Thekla, who was converted to Christianity by St. Paul, is being martyred by two crudely rendered lions. Caption: Coptic. The Martyrdom of St. Thekla, 6th century C.E., perhaps with modern reworking. Limestone, pigment, 13 3/16 x 23 1/4 x 5 5/16 in. (33.5 x 59 x 13.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 40.299. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A rectangular limestone relief shows two winged, palm-like figures flanking a central head/face, with radiating rays and a cross-like vertical element above the head.
The artifact is a weathered rectangular limestone panel carved in shallow to medium relief. The composition is symmetrical: on both sides are curved, leaf- or feather-like forms that resemble winged or acanthus/palm motifs. In the center is a small head/face area from which radiating, pointed rays extend outward. A vertical, cross-like element (or staff with a horizontal bar) is carved above the head. No clear hieroglyphs or alphabetic scripts are legible on the visible surface. There are traces of surface coloration consistent with pigment remaining in recesses, but the specific colors and any inscriptions are not readable from the image.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 40.299 tier-2
- BKM-Object 50218 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.