A Rare Islamic Large Porphyry Mortar
A Rare Islamic Large Porphyry Mortar
Period 13th / 14th Century
Medium Porphyry, iron ring to base, Imperial Porphyry
Dimension 18 x 32.5 cm (7¹/₈ x 12³/₄ inches)
With ‘stylised’ lobes and pouring spout
Old fissures and break
Porphyry, iron ring to base
Egypt
13th / 14th Century
SIZE: 18cm high, 32.5cm dia. (max) - 7 ins high, 12½ ins dia.
Period: 13th / 14th Century
Medium: Porphyry, iron ring to base, Imperial Porphyry
Dimension: 18 x 32.5 cm (7¹/₈ x 12³/₄ inches)
Provenance: Purchased Italy 2011
Ex Private collection
Literature: Virtually every piece of porphyry was quarried by convicts and slaves from the Egyptian eastern desert at Gebel Dokhan. The quarries were opened in the early 1st century AD and worked until the 5th century AD. They were most actively worked under the Roman Emperors Nero, Trajan and Hadrian. The Emperors reserved the colour purple for their own use and so porphyry and the Egyptian quarries became their exclusive Roman Imperial property. Islamic carved mortar was probably carved in Egypt from an earlier mined or worked block.
Finch & Co
Antiquities, ethnographica, natural history, sculpture and works of art
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