Preview
Creation Date
320–360 CE, based on a bowl at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (no. 2002.131) that was made from the same mould.
Geography
Tunisia, Byzacena, Sidi Marzouk Tounsi, based on a bowl at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (no. 2002.131) that was made from the same mould.
Culture
Roman, Byzantine
Medium
Terracotta, African Red Slip Ware
Dimensions
1 1/2 × 1 7/8 × 5/16 in. (3.8 × 4.8 × 0.31 cm)
0.49 oz. (14.0 g)
Credit Line
Bequest of David P. Harris ('46), 2020
Accession Number
2020.289
Provenance
Purchased by David P. Harris from Julia Schottlander (Tetragon) in London on June 13, 1992.
Condition
The object is a fragment of a larger piece. The form of the image’s individual shapes can be hard to distinguish from wear and there are small areas where the outermost layer of the terracotta or its glaze/coating has chipped away, especially on the edges and in various spots across its central relief, mostly concentrated in the bottom right hand corner. Like the chips in the terracotta’s glaze, there is also a build-up of some substance on the edges of the object and in small spots across the image. These spots are also distributed across the central engraving, most notably in the upper arch which encircles the subject and on and around the subject’s face.
Seth Ring (’26), October 2023
Description
The object is a polygon with two roughly 90 degree angles at the top left and bottom left. Along the upper edge, there is a straight, incised line that frames the main image. Towards the bottom left of the piece, there is a relief of a man reclining and facing left, propped on his bent left arm. His legs and part of his extended right arm have been lost to the object’s fragmentation. The outline of his head is visible but damage has obscured any facial details, but there are indications he might have had long hair and a beard. Several shapes arch diagonally over the reclined man, though damage has made it difficult to distinguish any particular object. In front of the man’s face a long, bone-like object hangs vertically down. Several organic lines raised in relief swirl around the man’s body. The top right corner of the object contains no imagery, nor does the back.
The incised line that frames the piece constitutes moulding that would have surrounded the complete object that the shard is a fragment of. This object was most likely a plate or shallow bowl, though it is also possible that it could have been a decorative roundel hung on a wall in a domestic setting. This moulding elevates the rest of the image, whose organic, loosely flowing lines might represent plants or vines. The man, being reclined, is likely resting under the shade of those plants/vines. Given that the image of Jonah under the gourd vine, a scene from the Old Testament, was popular iconography in late antique art, it can be said confidently that this is what the object depicts. The engraving’s swirling lines that make up a diagonal arch encircle Jonah, emphasizing his idealized form and position. Jonah’s horizontal position contrasts with the rest of the image’s verticality, further emphasizing him as the image’s primary subject. Depicting the prophet Jonah with an idealized form and body fits the Old Testament’s admirable narrative about him, that he was a sinner redeemed and favored by God for his humbleness and willingness to repent. Additionally, because depictions of Jonah and of the Jonah Cycle (four to five different images of the subsequent events of the Old Testament’s Book of Jonah) were associated with funerary contexts, there is further evidence that depicting Jonah under the gourd vine in a highly idealized form would be appropriate as a way to adorn the deceased’s body or place of burial.
Seth Ring (’26)